


Indigo League: Shooting Star

by Nicholas601



Series: Shooting Star [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Gen, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicholas601/pseuds/Nicholas601
Summary: "In a way, a successful trainer is like a shooting star, right?""A shooting star?""Yes, they start in the sky, where there are countless more, but then go their own way, all while shining brightly, inspiring those around them."
Series: Shooting Star [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998703
Kudos: 1





	1. Pokémon - I Choose You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, I just want to say thanks for clicking on this story (or tapping, if you're on mobile).  
> Also, there are some things you should know:  
> 1\. The physical/special split already exists in Kanto.  
> 2\. I will be writing about moves that were invented after Kanto.  
> 3\. Steel, Dark and Fairy already exist.  
> 4\. I don't describe the main characters' looks, so you can insert your own or your brother's if you want. Theit personalities are set in stone though. 
> 
> That's it for now, I hope you enjoy the story.

"Spiky, use Horn Attack!"  
As soon as it's Trainer gave the command, the Nidorino lunged at the Gengar, however it passed right through the opposing Pokémon, which turned around, and hit it with a Dark Pulse.

In front of the TV two boys were watching the match, the younger of which excitedly started to tug at his brother's shirt.  
"Did you see that? That attack completely went through Gengar!"  
In response, the older boy simply rolled his eyes.  
"Of course it didn't hit Gengar, that was a Normal-Type attack they can't hit Ghost-Pokémon."  
Whith an annoyed look he continued "You should really know that by the way, after all tomorrow, professor Oak is going to give you your first Pokémon."

Then, their Mother came into the room with an unhappy look on her face "Are you two still up? You mustn't sleep in tommorow, else the starters you want, might have already been given to other trainers."

The younger Boy gasped "Oh no! What if I don't get Charizard? Or what if..."  
His brother interrupted him "Hold on Daniel, first off the professor is giving away a Charmander, not a Charizard. Secondly, there are six trainers that will get a starter tommorow, we two, Damian from three houses over, professor Oak's grandson Gary, our neighbor Alex, and Ash, who lives next to the Pokémon-Center. "  
He paused for dramatic effect "That means, that statistically, we should have quite a good chance, to get the starter we desire, if we visit the professor at about 7 AM." 

Daniel simply looked confused "Why at seven? Can't we visit him after breakfast?"  
Their mother answered instead "I think what Nicholas means is that the earlier you go, the higher the chances of your favorite starter not being taken, as others might still be sleeping."

Nicholas nodded "Exactly, which means, that we really should go to sleep right away."  
His brother looked disappointed but also agreed to go to sleep, after their Mother promised to tell him how the match ended. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

The next morning, Daniel was woken up by the very unpleasant feeling of his brother shaking him awake "Wake up Daniel, wake up!"  
"Hm" he sleepily mumbled "Whaws goin' on?"  
"Daniel, it's already 7:45 AM we're going to be late!" 

That instantly managed to wake him up "What?! But I gotta get Charmander! We need to hurry!"  
Nicholas wanted to say something else, but Daniel already ran out of the front door without even taking the time to change out of his pajamas. 

In his hurry, he tripped over some roots, rocks, and a very angry Geodude, which chased him the rest of the way to the professors laboratory, where he accidentally ran into the front door. 

After his brother, who was properly dressed, finally caught up to him, he hurriedly dragged him inside the building, where they were greeted by the professor.  
"Ah, you must be here for..." he then noticed the state of dress Daniel was in, plus his many scratches "Oh my, what happened to you?" 

Sadly, the question was completely ignored "Professor, do you still have a Charmander for me?" then he winced "And perhaps some plasters?" 

The professor shook his head sadly "I'm afraid not, but I DO have a Squirtle, a Bulbasaur, an Oddish, a Pikachu, and a couple of plasters. "  
After hearing the selection, Nicholas perked up "So Squirtle is still available! That's great!" 

Professor Oak pointed to a Pokéball with a little wave sticker on it, while he shuffled through his medical cabine "Squirtle is in that ball, it is trained to be a fast Pokémon."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After he patched Daniel up, the professor asked him, what Pokémon he would like to travel with, while Nicholas let Squirtle out of its Pokéball "Hi Squirtle, Im Nicholas, your new Trainer."  
Squirtle tilted his head, and then grinned "Squirtle, Squir!" 

After hearing the sound of a Pokéball being opened, the two turned around to see Daniel kneeling to be on eye level with an Oddish.  
"Oddish Odd, Oddish?" the Pokémon asked.  
"Hi Oddish, I'm Daniel and I'm going to be the best trainer in the whole world!" He started talking excitedly, without even noticing that his Oddish seemed very confused, as to who this strange human actually was.  
"Dish Oddish!" it exclaimed, before slicing of parts of his hair, with Razor Leaf attack, leaving him with a very interesting haircut. 

Daniel jumped back "Woah! Stop that!"  
"Oddish!" it replied angrily, before cutting of some more of his hair. 

Professor Oak chuckled at that "It seems, that your Oddish is quite rebellious... Oh well, I'm sure you'll be the best of friends in no time!"  
He hurried to drawer and took something out of it "Before I forget it, this is Dexio, you Pokédex." 

"Zzt, Greetings" it said "Please try me out, to get a feel for how I work"  
Daniel immediately grabbed it, and pressed a button, after pointing it at Oddish.  
"Zzt, Oddish, the Weed Pokémon, wild Oddish are usually nocturnal, but recently people started breeding them to make them diurnal." 

"Awesome!" Daniel cheered "Though I have no idea what diurnal means..."  
"Odd?" Oddish seemed similarly confused. 

At that comment, he finally remembered, that his Pokémon was still standing next to him, and pressed the button on Oddish's pokéball, to return it.  
"Alright! Now we have everything we need, to start our journey! Now it's finally time for breakfast!" with that said, he sprinted out of the professors laboratory in a hurry. 

With a sigh, Nicholas decided that explaining his brother's behavior to the professor would take far too long, and also made his way to their home, but at a much slower pace then Daniel, while Squirtle followed him. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

As soon as Nicholas arrived at his home, he was met with an angry Geodude, that seemed to be trying to get in "Err... What are you doing here?"  
"Dude, Geodude" it shouted at him angrily, before proceeding to try and punch its way through the door. 

"Squirtle, can you translate that please?"  
"Squirtle, Squirtle." it nodded before making gestures to try and explain what the Geodude had said.  
"Someone went to bed?" Nicholas guessed but Squirtle shook its head, prompting him to try again "Someone tripped over it twice?" That seemed to be correct as he got a nod from Squirtle. 

"Alright Geodude, I don't know who exactly tripped over you, but can you please stop punching our door? That would be nice of you."  
Geodude didn't respond, and instead decided to use a Focus Punch on the door. 

"Okay, that's not nice. Squirtle, do you already know Watergun?" at Squirtle's nod he continued "Great. Then use it on the Geodude!" 

Frustrated at being doused in water, the Geodude decided to spend his time somewhere else, and floated down the street. 

After it left, the duo entered the home, where Daniel was already eating his breakfast, and their parents were drinking some coffee. 

"Ah there you are Nicholas, say did you happen to see what made all that noise outside?" his father asked, before seeing Squirtle "Oh my is that your starter? It looks really cute."  
Before Nicholas could answer, his Grandfather interrupted "I suppose you got it from the professor? Back in my days we had to catch our starter ourselves! Now THAT was an adventure. I still remember when I caught my Growlithe! It was on my tenth birthday... or was it my eleventh? Anyway..."

Not wanting his Grandfather to tell that story for the sixteenth time, Daniel interrupted the conversation "Grandpa, can't you tell us, how you got you Soulbadge? I don't think you told us yet." 

While his grandfather started telling his tale, Nicholas started eating a peanut butter toast and sharing some of it with his Squirtle. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After breakfast, their Mother started packing Nicholas's and Daniel's bags, as they were about to go on a journey to collect eight badges, and enter the Pokémon league. 

As they left Pallet Town, they waved their family goodbye until they were out of sight.  
"I'm so excited!" Daniel admitted "We're going on our own journey! I'm going to catch so many wild Pokémon and beat all of the gyms!" 

"Squir?" Squirtle shot Nicholas a questioning look.  
"Yeah, he's always like this" stated his trainer with an exasperated sigh before continuing.

Suddenly a Pokémon jumped out of a tree and right in front of them!  
"Whoah, what's that?!" with a shocked look, Daniel activated his Pokédex.  
"Zzt, Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokémon, it can't fly very high due to his short wings, however it's speed more than makes up for it's lack of hight."

"Spearow, Row!" after angrily declaring... something, it jumped up, and pecked Daniel on his head.  
"Ouch! That was uncalled for! I'll show you! Oddish, it's your turn!" with that he released his Oddish from her pokéball.  
"Oddish odd?"  
"Oddish, use Razor leaf!"  
Oddish obliged, but the leaves were blown away by a Whirlwind attack, which also hit Oddish, and threw it backward. 

"Squirtle, use Tackle!" Nicholas commanded.  
"Spear?" Before it could try and evade the attack, Spearow found itself tackled to the ground by Squirtle. 

"Great! Now... let's go!" with that, he threw a Pokéball at the Spearow, which shook thrice, before making a clicking noise.  
"Wow! You've already caught a Pokémon! That's so awesome!" 

Nicholas ignored Daniel's very loud comments, and instead picked up the Pokéball. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

That evening, the two camped out on near a river, where Nicholas cooked some food for the Pokémon and humans.  
Spearow didn't sit with them as it flew away to catch it's own meal, but Squirtle and Oddish were happily eating their food. 

Daniel meanwhile, was wondering why his brother hadn't even started eating his own food and was instead looking at the night sky.  
"What's up Nick? Why dont you start eating?"  
"Hm? Oh sorry! I was just thinking that, in a way, a successful trainer is like a shooting star, right?"  
"A shooting star?"  
"Yes, they start in the sky, where there are countless more, but then go their own way, all while shining brightly, inspiring those around them."

Daniel started grinning "You're right, I'm gonna be the brightest star the world has ever seen!"  
"No" Nicholas chuckled "that's going to be me!"

The two talked for a long time, but after Spearow returned, it was time to finally go to sleep.  
But this night, Daniel found no sleep, he was simply to excited at the fact, that he actually had a Pokémon now, and was already almost at Viridian City.  
As he looked up at the stars, he saw something else: a green snake like being floated through the sky!

"Whoa, what was that?!" he whispered, and reached for Dexio.  
In the dark, he accidentally hit some other buttons, like flashlight mode, before finding the right one.  
"Zzt, I have no data on this Pokémon"  
"No data? Wow, that means I could be the first to catch this Pokémon! I bet it's really strong!"  
Sadly, the Pokémon already floated away, leaving only the starry sky behind....


	2. Pokémon Emergency

The day certainly could've went better, but at least there were no angry Geodudes to be seen, somthing Daniel very much appreciated.

In the morning, he woke up covered in sweat, after a nightmare that involved huge baby heads and a golden Geodude.  
The first thing he saw, was the campfire they've started the previous night, over which Nicholas was cooking some eggs.  
"Ah, good morning Daniel, hope you slept well. I've made some eggs for us and our Pokémon. Or at least I wanted too, but Spearow prefers Caterpies, and Oddish is a literal plant, it gets its nutrients from moonlight, air and water."

"Caterpies?" he wondered and thought of some delicious pies.  
"Caterpie is a Pokémon" Nicholas said in a deadpan voice "You should know that, it's one of the most well known ones in Kanto."

"Oh right" he lied "of course I know it, it's the ...err... Pie Pokémon?"  
His brother simply facepalmed at that.  
"No?"  
"No! Just ask Dexio if you want to know more!"  
"Zzt, Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon, it never stops looking for food, so that it may evolve into a Metapod."  
"Wait... it's a worm?!" suddenly, Daniel got the gross mental image of a pie made of worms.   
"Of course, afterall Spearow is a bird, they eat worms!" 

Daniel, who was feeling quite queasy now, decided to throw up in some bushes.

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After the two of them cleaned up their campside, they continued their journey toward Viridian City, but then they saw someone running toward them.

It was a blonde boy of about ten years, who wore a sweater with pixelated Grass Type Pokémon on it, and some rectangular glasses.

"Hi Alex!" Nicholas greeted.  
"Squir!" 

"HiNicholas,wowyougotasquirtlethatssocool..."  
"Slow down please" Daniel interrupted "I dont understand a word you're saying."  
"Oh, sorry. I'm just so excited, I've already caught myself two Pokémon!"   
Alex was their neighbor, and loved Pokémon just as much as Daniel and they usually played together almost everyday, while Nicholas preferred to spend his time reading some boring books. 

"Really? What are they?"   
"They'resoawesomeonseisapidgeyandtheothe.."  
"You're talking way to fast again."  
"Right. Anyway, I caught a Pidgey and a Bellsprout! They're so cool!"   
"Bellsprout? What kind of name is that?" at that name, Daniel pictured a plant with bells growing from it's branches. 

Suddenly, a large Pokémon, Pidgeot, Daniel reminded himself, landed in front of them, and someone jumped from its back. 

"Huh? Who are you?"   
"Daniel, look!" Alex pointed at the person's purple clothing which had a large, black M symbol on it "That's the uniform of Team Magic!"   
"Team Magic?"   
"That's right" Nicholas interjected "They steal Pokémon and then use them for illegal entertainment!"  
"Yeah! Now hand over your Pokémon, or I shall demonstrate to you the magnificent might of Team Magic! 

Once mentioned his team's name, a sudden breeze slightly blew his hair to the left, as he struck an epic pose.   
"I, the mighty Fernando shall take your Pokémon now, so you'd better give up!" 

"That guys weird." Nicholas simply stated, something Daniel very much agreed with.   
"So you prefer to fight? Well then! Have at thee!" with another epic pose, he threw his Pokéball, from which a strange Pokémon erupted in a flash of light.   
"Haw! Hawlucha!" 

"What's that?!" it looked like nothing Daniel ever saw before, like some kind of bird, wearing wrestling clothes.   
"Zzt, I have no data on this Pokémon, please refer to Professor Sycamore for informations."

"Hey! Don't ignore me! Hawlucha, attack them with a Brick Break!"   
"Oddish, go!" Daniel yelled, and threw it's Pokéball towards Hawlucha. "Use Absorb!" 

Before Oddish could use the move, Hawlucha's fist hit it, and threw it into the shrubbery.   
"Bellsprout go!" Daniel turned around and saw Alex throwing a Pokéball of his own "Grab it with Vine Whip, and the throw it!"   
Bellsprout did just that, and threw Hawlucha into a tree, which promptly caused it to faint. 

"No! The mighty Fernando cannot lose like this!" then he got a triumphant look on his face "The mythy Fernando has deemed to spare you today, for you are not worthy of my time." with that said, he retreated in a very hasty manner. 

"Alright, what in Mew's name was that supposed to be?" Nicholas asked directly after the 'great' Fernando left their view.   
"I think he's supposed to be a baddie." Alex answered, despite the fact, that the question was supposed to be rhetoric. 

"Squirtle Squirtle?" Squirtle was tugging on Nicholas' shirt.  
"Hm? Oh right, we should get going if we want to be at Viridian City before Dusk."

"You'regoingtoViridianCity?Metoowecangotog..."  
"Hold up, you're way to fast again." Alex' talking speed was starting to get annoying.   
"Oops. Anyways I wanted to say that I'm also gonna go to Viridian City! Iwantedto.... I mean... I wanted to challenge the gym." That surprised Daniel, as he wondered why he wouldn't want to challenge the gym now.   
Perhaps the gym leader was actually evil all along and plans to take over the region?   
"Why did you say 'wanted'?" Nicholas asked before Daniel had a chance to do the same.   
When it came to things like this, Nicholas was a bit faster to notice small things than he was.   
"Well, the gym leader is currently on Cinnabar Island, so I can't exactly challenge him right now."   
"Surely someone acts as a substitute in the meantime?" his brother asked.   
"No, Mr. Roqueto chose not to appoint someone for that position."  
For a brief moment, Daniel thought he saw a flash of anger on his brother's face, which vanished so fast, he wasn't even sure he actually saw it. 

"Then how are trainers supposed to challenge the gym?"   
"I'm not sure" Nicholas answered "but I think Blue, the league chairman, normally takes care of things like that."

"Anyways" Alex interjected "since we can't challenge the Viridian gym, I'm going to challenge the one in Iris City. The gym leader there specializes in Fairy types."  
"Interesting. I assume this is, because Bulbasaur and Bellsprout are part poison?"   
"Yeah!Theyhavean... Sorry... They have an advantage against Fairy type Pokémon." That's quite strange, Daniel couldn't think of a single reason why poisonous stuff would have an advantage against fairy. 

Nicholas seemed to think for a bit "Then Daniel and I should be heading towards Pewter City, as our starters are Water and Grass types respectively." he paused a bit before adding "While Sepia Town would be closer than Pewter City, the gym there specializes in Flying types, which means our starters would be at a disadvantage."

Following a bit more route planning, the trio separated again, and Nicholas and Daniel went on their way towards Viridian City, where they would heal their Pokémon rest for a while. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After about another hour of walking, and a bit of talking about various topics, the two, three if Squirtle counts, arrived in a huge city.   
Despite already having been to the city multiple times, it was still just as impressive looking, with its many skyscrapers and all kinds of stores.   
"Wow, it's like everything gets bigger each time we visit"   
Squirtle, who didn't visit Viridian City before, was of course much more impressed.   
"Squirtle!" 

As the three neared the location of Pokémon Center, they found that, where it stood before, a crater was now in it's place. 

"Huh? What happened here?"   
A nearby police officer heard Daniel's question and came over to them "Well, last night some kid with a Pikachu blew up the Pokémon Center in a fight against Team Rocket." after a brief pause he added "If you want, I can heal your Pokémon with my Blissey."

"Blissey?" Daniel hadn't heard of that Pokémon before.   
"Zzt, Blissey, the Happiness Pokémon, it is incredibly compassionate and heals even Pokémon that attempted to attack it."  
"Why would it do that?" Daniel couldn't think of a way healing you enemie would make any sort of sense.   
"Err.. Should I heal your Pokémon or not?"   
"Right. Please do." 

Once their Pokémon were healed, the group headed towards Route 2, which would lead them to Viridian Forest. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

As the sun was slowly setting, the trio decided to camp next to a river on route 2.  
As Nicholas was trying (and failing) to start a campfire, Daniel decided to try and catch some more Pokémon.   
Since he has a Grass Type he thought it would be nice to also have a Water Type Pokémon, which is why he was currently standing in the freezing water of the river in only his underwear.   
"Brrr... I d-d-didn't think t-t-this through!"   
Despite the rivers chilly temperatures, Daniel bravely waded around to look for some Pokémon, when suddenly he was hit with an equally as cold Bubble Beam.   
"WHAH! W-w-what was t-t-that?"   
"Gold, Goldeen."  
"Huh? What are you?"   
"Zzt, Goldeen, the Goldfish Pokémon, because of it's elegant movements they are very popular pets. 

A pet? Daniel wanted a Pokémon that he can use to fight and not some pet fish.  
"G-g-go away!" he threw some mud in the Goldeen's general direction, which promptly caused it to swim away. 

Suddey he heard a voice behind him, which caused him to trip and land in the mud.   
"Uhh... Daniel, why are you scaring that poor Goldeen?"   
As Daniel got up, he briefly saw a smile on his brother's face, before realizing that his face was probably muddy.   
"Interesting make up . I'd say this could pass for some generic store brand." After some sarcastic clapping, Nicholas helped him up, and finally said the best thing Daniel heard today "Your sausages are done by the way."  
Before he could start to eat however, his brother demanded that he cleans himself a bit, since he didn't think mud-stained hands were all that hygienic.   
When Daniel finally got to eat he made a grave realization "Why is there no ketchup?"   
"Because we're camping and I can't exactly carry an entire kitchen around with me?" the sarcastic answer certainly didn't help.   
"But ketchup is a necessity!"   
"I'm sure it is." Even more sarcasm? Does he not understand other forms of humor?   
"Spear! Spearow, Row!" Now Spearow decided to fly their way, dragging a Caterpie with it.   
"Errr.. Spearow, can you please eat somewhere else? I understand you prefer to eat bugs, but it looks really gross to humans." for once Nicholas said something relatable, this should go down in history as 'The day Nicholas said something that Daniel agreed with'. 

Luckily Spearow flew onto a tree with his meal and didn't subject them to the torture of watching a Caterpie get eaten. 

Squirtle, who had been quitly eating the whole time decided to steal one of Daniel's sausages.   
Apparently even Pokémon know how good those taste.   
"Hey! That's mine! Go cook your own!"   
"Technically, I'm the who cooked our dinner, meaning that I can decide who gets to eat it...." At his brother's absolutely evil grin, Daniel had to admit that maybe Nicholas does know other forms of humor than simply sarcasm.   
"Squir, Squir."   
"Yeah, here ya go" with that, Nicholas gave Squirtle another bite of Daniel's food!   
How dare he? 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

As they finally went to sleep, Daniel hoped that this time he would dream of something nice. Perhaps he could dream of some cute Cleffas, that'd be nice.   
But before he could think of other things to dream about, he already drifted of to sleep...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that's one more chapter done, hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Daniel Catches a Pokémon

Forests were stupid.  
Daniel just wanted to catch some Pokémon in Viridian Forest and now he is being chased by a swarm of Beedrill after having an argument about who's guilty.

It all began rather peaceful, when the trio went into the forest in order to reach Pewtwer City.  
Soon however something very strange happened. Or at least Daniel thought it was strange. Nicholas apparently found it perfectly normal for people to walk around the woods, catching Pokémon, only to scan them with their Pokédex and release them directly afterwards.  
The person's taste in clothing was also strange to say the least.  
She wore red sandals, yellow shorts and a green shirt! It made her look like an inverted, brunette, traffic light! 

"...No... these IVs are even worse!" with that, the strange girl released another Caterpie, which was promptly snatched up by a wild Pidgeotto.

"Hey!" Daniel shouted to get her attention "What are you doing? The poor Caterpiellar..."  
"Caterpie." Nicholas interjected.  
"Whatever. It got eaten because of you!"  
"Who are you even?" the girl asked "And why are you screaming at me? I don't eat worms."  
"Yeah, but the Pigeon thing..."  
"Pidgeotto."  
"It only caught the Catercake..."  
"I give up."  
"Because you released it for no reason!"  
"First off, I normally don't listen to complaints from strangers! Secondly there is a reason as to why I released them!"  
"Oh really?" Daniel tried to be sarcastic for once. If even Nicholas can pull it off, anyone can, right? "What would that reason be?"  
That question was however answered by Nicholas "I believe she tried to get a Pokémon with good IVs."  
"Ivys? But Cakepie isn't a Grass Type, right?" That didn't make much sense, especially since Nicholas usually knew quite a lot about Pokémon

Since both the girl, whose name he still didn't know, and his brother, whose name he did know, facepalmed at that, it seemed like he was wrong.  
"No Daniel, IVs are the strenghs and weaknesses of each individual Pokémon."  
"Also, it's not my fault that the Pidgeotto happened to be hungry. It would have eaten the Caterpie, even if I didn't catch it." she paused before adding "By the way, can you please tell me your names?"  
"Squir, Squirtle" that probably passed for an introduction in Squirtle-ish.  
"I'm Nicholas."  
"And I'm Daniel."  
"Well, I'm Clarissa, and I don't appreciate you messing with my training!"  
"Cater? Caterpie?" Daniel didn't even realize it, but one of the Catpies had crawled up his arm, and was now sitting on his shoulder.  
"AHHH! Oh, it's just a Kittypie." This was of course not a cowardly scream, but a scream of bravery. Anyone who disagrees is certainly in the wrong.  
"Kittypie? How would you even... Nevermind."

Before Daniel could do anything, Clarissa had already caught the Cutepie and scanned it.  
"Yes! This Caterpie has a great speed IV!" Why someone would want a fast worm, Daniel was not sure, but at least it meant she would leave the other Katypies alone.  
"Speed IVs?" Nicholas asked. At least he knew that fast worms don't really make any sense at all.  
With a nod, Clarissa confirmed her answer "Yes, I want it to be very fast, so that I can use it as a Butterfree to quickly wear any opposing Pokémon down with a barrage of Air Slashes." 

Then, she did something incredibly stupid. At least that was Daniel's opinion of it. Nicholas found it quite a reasonable mistake to make.  
She tried to catch a Weedle.  
Normally there's no problem with that, but once her Psyduck hit it with a Confusion attack, a swarm of Beedrill came flying out of the trees.  
Apparently, they're not so fond of people trying to catch their friends.  
With another very brave scream, Daniel ran as fast as he could away, Nicholas, Squirtle and Clarissa following right behind.

As they ran deeper into the woods, they could see many Pokémon completely wrapped up in some sort of webbing.  
"What are thoahhh!" as she tried to ask something, Clarissa tripped over what looked like a wrapped up Diglett.  
"Zzt, Beedrill wrap up their prey to keep it fresh." Well, that wasn't something Daniel ever needed to hear.  
Then, he realized that Clarissa was already back on her feet and running away with the others, while he was still standing in place as the Beedrill closed in.  
"Oh dear." with that he bravely retreated. No, he did not run away in absolute terror. That wasn't true in the slightest. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

When they finally escaped the Beedrill, the three arrived at a part of the woods that was full of wrapped Pokémon.  
"Where are we?" In the woods. How could Clarissa forget that?  
"Weeeellll .... according to my map .... we are .... lost."  
"Lost? Urgh, why did you have to try and catch that Weedle?"  
"Excuse me? How should I have known that there was a swarm of angry Pokémon nearby?"  
"Guys, calm down please." No, Daniel did not want to calm down! Because of this girl, his journey towards becoming champion was delayed!  
"No, first I want Daniel to apologize for blaming me!" How dare this girl deny her guilt?  
"Apologize?! You're the one that got us into this!"  
"Guys ..."  
"I'm not!"  
"You are"  
"I'm not!"  
"You are!"  
"I'm not!"  
"Please ..."  
"You are"  
"I'm not!"  
"You are!"  
"GUYS!"  
"What?" Now both of them shouted at the same time.  
"Your fighting will attract the Beedrill again!"  
Surely the Beedrills wouldn't hear them. They're bugs after all, those aren't exactly known for good hearing.  
"You may have a point there." Of course Clarissa would agree with Nicholas, she didn't know anything about Pokémon! After all she thought Barterpies would have to be fast.

"Drrrrrrrill!" Oh no, that sounded like the Beedrill!  
Once the wild Pokémon burst into the clearing, everyone started running as fast as they could. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Once they've escaped the swarm again the quartet hid in a cave, where Nicholas started to take something out of his backpack.  
"Hm? What are you doing?"  
Seriously? How could Clarissa not know, that that was ... errrr ... a ... thingie?  
"Gotcha!" now Daniel could see, that he pulled a bag of chips out.  
"Chips?" There was no reason for him to suddenly eat Chips.  
"Well, we should stay here for a bit in case the Beedrill are still searching for us, so I thought we might as well eat a little snack."  
That made sense but he surely only meant himself and Daniel, after all, she's the one that got them into this mess in the first place!

"Also Daniel, Clarissa, can you please stop glaring at each other and make up?"  
How dare he? Does that mean he already forgave her?  
"What? I won't stop until he apologizes for accusing me!"  
"Apologize to you?! You're the one that started this!"  
Before the two could continue their very civilized discussion, Squirtle hit them in the face with a Water Gun.  
"What the?!" this time Clarissa and he talked in unison. Creepy.  
"Calm down, or the shippers are going to start shipping you two!"  
"WHAT?" Huh? Why would Clarissa react this heavily to ships? The cave is quite far away from the sea and ships usually don't drive on tiny rivers.  
"Yeah, they love to ship people that clearly have no chemistry. Bonus points if the boy wears leather pants." 

Instead of bothering to join their strange talk about boats, Daniel grabbed a bag of chili flavored chips and began eating.  
"Hey! Don't eat all the chips!" with that said, Clarissa also took a chip from the bag and immediately began to grow very red in the face after eating it.  
Without a word, Nicholas simply gave her a bottle of water, which she emptied almost completely.  
"What kind of infernal abomination was that?! How could you eat those? They taste like crunchy fire!"  
Perhaps, but Daniel is a real manly man, so spicyness doesn't bother him in the slightest.  
He still drank some water, but of course only because he just so happened to be thirsty and not because the chips were to spicy. 

"Can we leave now? The Beedrill probably already gave up."  
"You stay here, I'll send Spearow to investigate. He should be safe. "  
"Spearow? What could a bird do against a huge swarm of bees?"  
Clarissa facepalmed "Beedrill are Bug Types, they're weak to Spearow, because he's a Flying Type!"  
"And? Just because he's strong against them, doesn't mean he can take out an entire swarm!"  
"Err ... Guys? Remember what I said about the shippers?" 

At that, Clarissa instantly stopped and was at the other side of the cave before Daniel could ask what boats have to do with anything.  
"Errr ... Nicholas? You don't suppose you could tell people not to ship us?"  
"No, I sadly can't. After all, I've even met people who believe Harold Peter should be together with his greatest Rival."  
"Who?"  
"Harold Peter is the main character of a book series. Alright, technically his name isn't Harold Peter, but since he looks really strange in the video game of the sixth book, people call that version of him a different name."  
"..... Sure, whatever."

"Spea! Row Row!"  
Oh, it seems Spearow has returned.  
"Squirtle, Squir Squirtle."  
"Alright, thanks for the translation Squirtle." Translation? Squirtle definitely didn't speak English, so what did he translate to? Nonsense-ish?  
"Spearow said the Beedrill have given up looking for us!"  
"Really?" once again, Daniel and Clarissa spoke in perfect unison.  
"Stop that! I don't want to give people any more incentive to ship us!" and there the ships were again. It was still quite strange that she would be so afraid of boats.

Anyway, after that all of them left the cave and were now looking for way out of the woods, when Daniel suddenly tripped over something.  
"Weeee! Weedle..."  
It was a Weedle! And he accidentally knocked it out! The swarm certainly won't like that!  
Wait a sec! Couldn't he simply catch it?  
"Pokéball go!"  
It worked! The Weedle stayed in the ball!

With his new Pokémon securely in it's ball, Daniel and the others now try to find a way out of the woods...


	4. Challenge of the Samurai

Daniel was wrong.  
Forests aren't that stupid.   
At least not as stupid as Clarissa.   
"No! Weedle can't learn Bug Buzz!"  
"Yes it can, after all, it's a Bug Type attack!" Why didn't she believe him?   
"No! Just because it's Bug Type, doesn't mean that all Bug Pokémon can learn it!" That doesn't even make sense. Why wouldn't they be able?  
"Zzt, Weedle is not able to use Bug Buzz."  
"What?! Why not?"  
"Zzt, Bug Buzz is a sound-based attack, however Weedle is not able to produce the required sound."  
"Told you so!" And now she's acting all smug?! Can't we just sacrifice her to the Beedrill?  
"Guys! You've been fighting for hours! Can't you just make up? Or out?"  
"What?" Now they talked in sync again? Can't she say her own things?  
"I'm just representing the shippers, after all, they would surely enjoy that. I know that cause I once wrote a Zubatman/Spindawoman fic." But Zubatman was from a different TV show than Spindawoman, that doesn't make sense.  
"You did? I prefer m/m fics but m/f is also okay I guess." What does m/m mean? And m/f? Are they talking about some kind of junior jumble that they can't solve?  
"You know, I'd show it to you, but I was 10 at the time, meaning that it isn't exactly of the highest quality."  
"Ten? Shouldn't you have been on a journey at the time?" Ouch... That was a bad question to ask. Daniel could quite clearly see the expression on his brother's face, which was replaced with a neutral facade before little Ms. Insensitive could notice it.   
"I should have, but I wanted to wait for four more years to travel with my brother." If Daniel didn't know what really happened, he would have easily believed the lie and so did Clarissa, apparently.  
"Oh, that's really nice of you. But I wouldn't have the patience to wait for that little Magicarp." Magicarp? She just keeps insulting him!  
"Well if I'm a Magicarp, you're a.... a....a.... a weaker Magicarp!" Yeah! That'll show her!

Before she could spit out her hugely inferior insult, they were interrupted by someone running towards them in a dark blue armor.   
"Hm? Who are you?"   
"I am Ohiya, the samurai of water, and I have come to challenge you!"   
"Samurai? Challenge? Which of us?" Finally Nicholas contributed something meaningful!   
"My three siblings and I set out to challenge everyone that passes through this forest in a Pokémon battle! Including you!" He sounds quite crazy. Perhaps he escaped from some facility... 

"A Pokémon battle? Sure!" This could be a chance to prove once and for all that Daniel'is a far better trainer than Clarissa!   
"Very well! If you succeed I'll let you continue on your journey , but if I win, you shall not pass!"   
"Alright! I choose Oddish!"  
"Very well. Go Krabby!" A crab-like Pokémon emerged from the ball, it didn't look that strong, this should be easy....  
"Zzt, Krabby, the River Crab Pokémon, their pincers are fragile and break easily but regrow within a week." Fragile? Why would he use a Pokémon that has breakable claws?   
"Krabby, use harden!"   
The Pokémon's shell glowed briefly before revealing a far more sturdy looking one.  
"Oddish, get it with a Razor Leaf!"  
Strangely, the leaves didn't even leave a scratch on Krabby's shell!   
"What the?!"   
"Krabby, it's time for Metal Claw!" METAL Claw? That didn't sound like a Water or Normal Type attack! Then how could Krabby learn it?   
"Odd!" Oh no! Oddish was hit by the metallic claw!   
"Oddish, try using Acid!"   
Daniel's Pokémon did so, and fire some purple slime at the Krabby, which started melting some of it's armor.  
"Krabby, this is no fight you can win. Return!" With a red bean of light, the Pokémon had vanished.   
"Staryu, it's your turn!"   
A strange seastar-like creature appeared from a Superball and, upon Ohiya's command fired an Ice Beam at Oddish.   
"Oddi..." No! Daniel's Pokémon was frozen solid and can't continue fighting!   
"Oddish, come back! Let's go Weedle!" Yes, he actually had to resort to using Weedle. A worm.  
"A Weedle? It's useless against my Psybeam!"   
"Use Poison Sting before it can attack!"   
"Wee. Weedle!" with a nod, the brave Weedle crawled towards the Staryu and stabbed it in the crystal with it's horn.   
"Weeeeee!"   
Weedle glowed! And it ... began to change shape?   
"Ka. Kakuna.   
" Zzt, Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokémon, it hides between leaves until it finishes evolving. Because it can't defend itself, it usually gets eaten if a Pidgey or Fearow spots it."  
"That sounds ... quite weak!"   
"Don't underestimate it Daniel! After all, I once managed to beat you with a Cleffa!"   
"Yeah, but that was a videogame which is very different from reality." Not to mention that it had a really stupid name: "Pokémon SeaBlue". That sounds like a place where you book tickets for a vacation! 

"Kakuna, try another Poison Sting!"   
"Staryu, Psybeam!"   
Before the beam was able to be fired, Kakuna stabbed Staryu's crystal once again.   
"Staaa-a-a-aar..." Once the crystal shattered the seastar-thingy collapsed backwards straight into the greenery.  
"Staryu, come back! Since you managed to defeat me in a fair fight, I shall let you pass. Also please take this as a reward." in his outstretched hand, Daniel could see a blue disc with the number 18 written on it in black.   
"This is the TM for the move Rain Dance." A TM? Does he mean trademark?   
"What? Why does the Magicarp get that? His Pokémon can't even learn Rain Dance!"   
"I'm not a Magicarp!"  
"Guys, calm down! Don't fight in front of a stranger."  
"It is fine, I was going to challenge some other trainers anyway so I'll be going now." before they had a chance to say goodbye, the samurai ran into the shrubbery, probably looking for someone else to challenge.

After an awkward pause Clarissa was the first to speak up "That guy was strange."  
That was something Daniel could agree with. Not out loud of course!  
"Most definitely." Nicholas didn't seem to mind loudly agreeing with her.  
"I'd say he's rather normal." Not really, but it's the opposite of what Clarissa thinks so it has to be his opinion.

"Squirtle, Tle."  
"Oh, right. We should probably get moving again." Did Squirtle remind him? That's what it sounded like but surely that's not possible?

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After a fair bit of walking, the four finally reached the edge of the woods.  
"Finally! Now I don't have to travel with Mr. Magicarp anymore."  
"You're not going to Pewter City?"  
"Nope, I'm on my way to Sepia Town for the Cyclone Badge." YES! Now they don't have to put up with her anymore!  
So they won't their separate ways, with Daniel and Nicholas choosing to follow Route 2 which leads to their next destination.  
"Nick?"  
"First, please don't call me that. Secondly, what's the matter?"  
"Why did you keep talking about ships?"   
"Ships?... Ooooh you mean shipping, right?  
With a nod Daniel confirmed this.  
"Well, I can't tell you because that would ruin the running gag. Sorry."   
The running gag? Nicholas was acting as if this was just an episode of a TV series or a chapter of a book instead of real life. It's quite annoying.

"Anyways, let's continue before the 4th wall breaking starts looking like lazy writing."   
Huh? He wants to break a wall?

Since he didn't have any more strange things to say, Nicholas and Squirtle started walking and Daniel followed closely behind.

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, they reached the road that would lead them directly to Pewter City.  
As they were walking, Daniel decided to ask something that didn't involve traveling over the sea. "Why were you that nice to Clarissa? She was being insufferable!"  
"Maybe because I don't like fighting over the pettiest of reasons?" that question seemed rhetoric "or maybe it's because I didn't want to get in the way of your romance?" R-romance?!  
"No! I'm not interested in her!"  
"Sure" aaaaand his sarcastic voice returned "the same kind of not interested that you exhibited when you were following that girl at the mall around last month."  
"I-I-I-I wasn't following her on purpose we just randomly went to the same places."  
"Oh? So you're saying you were interested in “Mr Fluffles, the talking teddybear“? 'Cause that's what she wanted to buy."  
"Errr... Yeah, sure I wanted to buy it to ... errr..." Just great! Now he was basically forced to insult his manliness! "... burn it as an offering to Mew?"  
"Squir!" Squirtle facepalmed, something he would also do if it wouldn't make his lie even less believable.  
"I agree with you. Daniel really did just earn the 'Most stupid lie ever' award plus the prestige that comes with it." Award? Prestige? Awesome!  
"I'm being sarcastic by the way." Of course. Daniel should have been able to tell from the tone of his voice but for some reason he didn't switch to sarcasm-mode this time.  
"Since you'll just tease me if I ask about Clarissa, I'll instead ask what I'm supposed to do with the trademark I got."  
At that, Nicholas looked confused before he remembered something "Oh, right! You mean the TM? You can use it to teach a Pokémon the move Rain Dance. It basically increases the weight of the clouds and pulls them to the battlefield, making it rain."   
"Why would I want to do that?" he asked incredulously "That'd just ruin a nice sunny day!"   
At his expression, Nicholas laughed before explaining "Sometimes having it rain will give you an advantage. For example, Thunder is guaranteed to hit during the rain."  
"Zzt, Thunder, an attack of the Electric Type. The user summons a bolt of lightning from the sky to strike the opponent."  
"Thanks Dexio."

"Soooo... How do I teach it to my Pokémon?"   
"None of them can learn Rain Dance. Squirtle could, but I don't suppose you'd let me use the TM."  
"Nope. It's mine." 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon the trio finally reached a hill overlooking Pewter City.   
"We finally made it? Awesome!" Daniel immediately ran of into the city, with Nicholas and Squirtle following at a far slower pace...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Showdown in Pewter City


	5. Showdown in Pewter City

Ouch.  
After running all the way from the top of the hill, Daniel tripped over a Geodude which then chased him and decided to punch him once it caught up.

Soon Nicholas and Squirtle also caught up with him rather quickly and looked like they wanted to say something but Nicholas shook his head "Trying to understand what happened to him won't be worth the effort."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, they had healed their Pokémon at the Pokémon Center and were on their way to the gym, where they were greeted by a hiker who apparently works there.   
"Sorry but there's a fight going on right now."  
"Well, when would it be over?"  
"More importantly, which of us gets to fight first?"  
The hiker laughed at Daniel's question "Usually the younger challenger gets to fight first. Also the battle should be over soon." With a grin he added "By the way, from what I've heard, Brock tries to use Pokémon that the challengers have an advantage against. But that only happens with people that have two or less badges, so you shouldn't worry about advantages since this is your first gym."  
"Wait, why do you know that?"  
Nicholas sighed "Daniel, we are registered on the official Pokémon league website. It records how many badges we have."  
"Really? Does that mean we're famous?"  
"No, this year's league alone has 256 trainers registered." 256?! That was a lot of trainers!

Suddenly the doors opened and a boy carrying a Pikachu came out and walked right past them.  
"Well, I suppose Brock should have time now."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, Daniel was standing on one side of a rocky battlefield with the gym leader standing on the other.  
"Each trainer may use a total of two Pokémon, one at a time, no switching allowed!" the voice from the speakers told them. 

"Go Oddish!"  
"I choose you Geodude!"   
"Zzt, Geodude, the Rock Pokémon, Geodude are sometimes mistaken for actual rocks. They feel insulted by that and punch the offender immediately after."   
That, caused him to think back on how a Geodude had beaten him up a couple of days ago. 

"Oddish, star the fight with Razor Leaf!"   
"Geodude, use Stealth Rock!"   
Both Pokémon started throwing projectiles, but while Daniel's attack hit the Geodude, the thrown rocks simply started to levitate after they landed near Oddish.   
"Huh? They didn't hit?"   
Gym leader Brock simply grinned. 

"Geodude, try Tackle!"   
"Oddish, dodge and another Razor Leaf!"   
Oddish tried to dodge but was still hit by the attack, before hitting Geodude with some sharp leaves.   
"Geodude, use another Tackle!"   
"Stop him with Secret Power!"   
Before Geodude could hit Oddish, a wave of mud erupted from the ground and hit it in the eyes, causing it to miss.   
Eh? Didn't Secret Power normally look like Vine Whip?   
"Keep trying Geodude!"   
"Razor Leaf!"   
As the leaves hit the Geodude, it collapsed to the ground.

"Onix, it's your turn!"   
"Zzt, Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon, it sometimes causes earthquakes when moving around underground."  
"Ooooooniiii!" the Pokémon roared.   
"Oddish? O-o-odd?" That's not good! Oddish seemed to be scared!   
"Oddish, you can come back if you're scared!"   
Oddish didn't even hesitate and immediately returned. 

"Kakuna, you're up next!"   
Strangely, once Kakuna emerged from it's Pokéball the sharp rocks Geodude scattered around the battlefield gathered gathered under Daniel's Pokémon.   
"Ku!"   
The rocks pierced it's shell! But then something happened - the shell started to crack! Soon it fell apart and something emerged from within!  
"Beeeeeeeee!"   
His Kakuna evolved into a Beedrill!   
"Beedrill, what moves can you use?"   
"Zzt, scanning . . . finished. Results are now shown."  
Daniel scrolled for a bit before finding a move that sounded strong.   
"Use Twineedle!"   
Beedrill obliged and rushed forward to sting the Onix with it's needle-like arms.   
"Onix, use harden!"   
The Onix briefly glowed and soon looked even tougher than before.  
"Beedrill, Fury Attack!"  
Daniel's Pokémon started quickly stabbing the gym leader's Pokémon mtiple times.  
"Bee! Drill! Bee! Drill!"  
After the fourth hit, Brock told his Onix to use Gyro Ball, leading it to throw a round, metal-filled rock at Beedrill.  
"Drii!" That looked like it hurt!  
"Beedrill, hit it with another Fury Attack!"   
"Onix, wrap!"   
"Out of the way!"   
Beedrill avoided the attack and the used Fury Attack which sadly didn't do that much damage because of Onix' hardened body.   
"Onix, use another Harden!"   
"Beedrill, try hitting it with Rage!"   
While the Onix hardened it's body once again, Beedrill started looking very angry and started furiously hitting his opponent.   
"Onix, Harden again!"   
"Nii"   
"Bee! Bee! Bee! Drrrrrill!"   
Beedrill was still hitting the Onix with all it's might, when finally something happened!   
"Bee!"   
Beedrill needles broke from hitting the hard rocks!  
"Beedrill! No!"  
"Now, Smack Down!"   
Onix hit Beedrill with it's tail, causing it to fall to the ground, unconscious!   
"Beedrill! No!"   
"The challenger has no Pokémon left! Gym leader Brock has won!" 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Outside of the gym, Daniel told Nicholas what happened.   
"Hm, I see... It appears as though you are in dire need of special moves on your Beedrill."  
"Squir." Squirtle nodded.   
"Huh? How do I get those?"   
Nicholas pondered the question for a couple of seconds before answering "You could train it to learn Venoshock, but Onix are resistant to that. Another option would be using TM or consulting a move tutor."  
"A move tutor? Where can I find one?"   
Nicholas typed something on Dexio before he responded "Well, according to Motu.net, there should be a tutor working at the Pokémon Center."  
"Awesome! How much would I have to pay him?" It can't be that much, after all, he probably teaches everyone that wants to beat Brock.   
"The price?" Nicholas scrolled down before looking perplexed "What the Magicarp? She wants to get paid in beans!"   
"Squir? Squirtle!" Squirtle started laughing at that statement.   
"Beans?!" Who would want to be paid in vegetables? He could understand it if he asked for meat, but beans?   
"Yes, that's what it says on the website. Beans."  
"And how do we get some beans? Can we just buy them?"  
"Yes. But I think it would be better if we just bought a TM. We could use it multiple times, while we would be paying the tutor for one lesson, and that's it."  
"Can Beedrill learn a good move from a TM?"  
"Yes. Infestation is a move that causes a swarm of bugs to attack the opponent. It's not a physical move, and it's got STAB."  
"Stab?"  
"STAB. You need to pronounce it as if it was written in capital letters. Same-type attack bonus. Pokémon that use attacks of their own type deal more damage." Oh? That's good to know.  
"And where can I buy the TM?"  
"Weeellllll... You'd have to find it."  
"Ha? What do you mean?"  
"You see, some TMs can only be found in completely random places, like behind bushes. Sadly Infestation is one of those. Solar Beam could be bought, but it's very expensive, so that's not an option either. Luckily you can buy the TM for Silver Wind on Amazonix."  
Ah. That makes sense. Amazonix has a huge selection of products including different kinds of Pokéballs, books or even lamps.  
"Can you order it now?"  
"Sure. It should arrive soon, after all, their Pidgeots are considered to be the fastest in all of Kanto."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Nicholas was right!  
The TM arrived within only two hours!   
During that time, Nicholas somehow managed to beat Brock and win the badge, while Daniel had to wait outside where he tried, and failed, to teach his Beedrill Infestation without a TM.   
"Allright! It's finally here! How do I use it?"   
"You need to insert the disk into Dexio so that he can download the training instructions."   
"I still have to teach Beedrill the move! I thought it was instantaneous!"   
"Things aren't always as easy as one would except, but you will find that subverting ones expectations is very important nevertheless" Nicholas said while his eyes... twinkled?! How do you make your eyes twinkle like that?   
"Yeeeeaaaaah.... I think I'm gonna go teach Beedrill the move now. See ya." Now that he finally had his TM, Daniel immediately used it on Dexio.   
"Zzt, TM inserted. Instructions download. Please select a Pokémon that can learn Silver Wind."  
Daniel tapped on the icon that depicted a Beedrill, and a list of instructions popped up.

"Alright Beedrill, it's time to train!"  
"Bee!" That seemed enthusiastic! Awesome!

———————————————————————————————————————————————

After a bit of training, Daniel was ready to challenge the gym again, but Brock was nowhere to be found!  
Instead, a guy named Flint seemed to be the gym leader now.  
"Each trainer may use a total of two Pokémon, one at a time, no switching allowed!" the voice from the speakers told them for the second time today.

"This time I'll start with Beedrill! Go!"  
"Geodude, I choose you!"  
"Stealth Rock!"  
That's the attack that summoned those stones last time!  
"Beedrill, hit the rocks with Silver Wind!"  
Beedrill started to rapidly beat it's wings, which caused a glittering gust of air to blow the rocks Geodude threw out of the battlefield  
"Geodude, Tackle!"  
"Fly out of his way and use another Silver Wind!"  
The Geodude was thrown back by the force of Beedrill's wind.  
"Rollout!"  
"Fly to the ceiling!"  
The Geodude rolled in Bedrill's direction, but Daniel's Pokémon was already out of his reach.  
"Another Silver Wind!"  
Geodude fainted from being launched at the wall by the glittering gust of wind.

"Onix! You're up next! Start with harden!"  
"Silver Wind again!"  
Onix was hit, but Flint seemed to be grinning for some reason.  
"Harden!" Again? Silver Wind isn't affected by Harden!   
"Let's go! Another Silver Wind!"   
"Oooni!"   
"Harden!"   
"Another Silver Wind should finish it!"   
"Beeeeeee...." Beedrill looked exhausted for some reason!   
"Beedrill, what's the problem?"   
"Heh. You don't seem to know that you can't use Silver Wind more than five times right now." What?!   
"Why not?"   
"The silvery powder that's used for the attack needs to be replenished before you can use it again!"   
"Well then, Beedrill, come back! It's your turn Oddish!"   
"Oddish?"   
"Razor Leaf!"   
The hardened leaves immediately shattered when they hit the Onix' hard body.   
"Onix, Rock Blast!"   
"Oddish, Absorb!"   
Oddish seemed to pull some kind of energy out of it's enemy's body which fainted immediately.

"Oddish, you did it! You beat Onix!"   
"Very well, it seems you have earned a Boulder Badge!"   
"Awesome!" Daniel immediately snatched the badge from Flint's hands and put in his pocket. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon the trio were on their way again.   
As they left the city Daniel asked "Where are we going now?"   
"Cerulean City" Nicholas answered "We have an advantage against Water Type Pokémon."   
As the sun set the trio walked quietly, each person lost in their own thoughts...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed as always.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Clefairy and the Moon Stone


	6. Clefairy and the Moon Stone

This time, Daniel didn't actually find something to complain about!  
That means that today, Tuesday 28th, was officially his favorite day!  
.... Weellll, not quite, there's still the fact that his brother is scared of the dark and doesn't want to pass through Mt. Moon.

"Come on, it's not like there's some monster in there!"  
"No no no no no no! What if it trip and hurt myself? Or what if a wild Pokémon attacks us?"  
"Squirtle?"  
"See? Even Squirtle agreed with me! ... I think."  
"Can't we go catch a Pokémon that can learn Flash first?"  
"No!"  
"Then can't we at least buy a flashlight or something?"  
"NO! We've walked two days to get here! We're not going back to Pewter City!"  
"Please?" Nicholas was starting to get very annoying! Seems like there was something to complain about after all.  
"Squirtle? Let's go. Nicholas can stay here if he wants. "  
Before Nicholas could decide whether to go into the dark cave or stay outside alone, they were interrupted by a Venoshock narrowly missing them.  
"What?

As they turned around, they saw a blonde man in Team Magic uniform together with his Nidorino.  
"Who are you? "  
"I'm Ravio! The brightest star of Team Magic!" the person claimed with a dramatic pose.  
"Well then, would you please leave us alone?" Serious Nicholas? He's a criminal! "I really don't want to fight you. I don't even like noodles!"  
Noodles?  
"Noodles?"  
"You know... Ravio.... Ravioli.... get it?" Okay, that was awkward.  
"DON'T! CALL! ME! RAVIOLI!" Wow. He's got temper.  
"Wow. Capslock of rage, huh?" Capslock? This isn't a written dialogue! "I can tell this is capitalized. It's a rather immature way of writing."

Daniel, Squirtle and Ravio simply stared at Nicholas.   
"What? It's true! Rage can be conveyed in multiple other and, if I may add my personal opinion, better ways."   
"........ Sure."

"Anyways! I'm here to steal rare Pokémon from the trainers that pass through this place!"  
"Then why didn't you attack earlier? We were arguing for an entire paragraph before you showed up!"  
"Well... Err.. I maaayyybe fell asleep while waiting for someone to show up.... I mean.... I was waiting for the right moment to strike!" He quickly, and unsuccessfully, tried to stop blushing before continuing "Now, hand over your Pokémon or I'll have take them from you myself!"   
"I'd like to see you try! Go, Spearow!"   
"You choose to resist? I'll make you sorry you ever tried! Nidorino, Leer!"   
The Nidorino glared at Spearow, which caused it to shudder and look quite scared.   
"Spearow, Peck!"   
The Spearow obliged - but it used the attack on Nicholas!   
"What? You're not confused! Stop that!"  
"Spear!" Spearow simply continued pecking Nicholas.   
".... Is that supposed to happen?"  
"No it's not. Beedrill, you take care of this, alright?"  
"Bee!"  
"Leer at it!"  
"Beedrill, close your eyes and use Silver Wind!"  
Because Beedrill closed it's eyes, the Silver Wind missed Nidorino by about five meters.   
"Oh deary me! Ouch! Stop!"   
"Well this awkward.... I don't suppose you simply want to give your Pokémon up?"   
"No! Ouch! Squirtle, hit Nidorino with you Water Gun!"   
"Nido?"   
FINALLY! Nidorino was hit by an attack!   
"Counter that with a Fury Attack!"   
"Nido! Rino! Nido! Rino!"   
"Beedrill, stop him with Silver Wind!"   
Before the attack could hit Squirtle, the glittering gust of wind threw Nidorino into a tree, causing it to snap in two, with the upper half landing on Ravio's Pokémon. 

"Nidorino, come back! Abra, it's you turn!"  
[Why me?]   
What! Where did that voice come from? It sounded like it was coming from the inside of his own head!  
"Zzt, Abra, the Psi Pokémon, tough it sleeps for 18 hours a day, it can still communicate during that time through telepathy."   
[Can't I just sleep in peace? Don't answer. That was a rhetoric question.]   
"No! Now use Thunder Punch!"   
[Nope.]   
"Wait! What are you..."   
With a soft popping noise, Abra and Ravioli suddenly suddenly disappeared!  
"What just happened?"   
"Zzt, Teleport, a Psychic Type move. It teleports the user away."  
"Well.... That was strange."  
"Agreed, I.... Ow! Stop that!"   
"Spear!"   
"Just come back!"   
Nicholas tried to return Spearow to his ball, but the Pokémon kept evading the ball's red beam.   
"Beedrill, come back."   
Well, at least Beedrill let itself be returned.   
"Come on Spearow, stop messing around!"   
Nicholas definitely got lucky, because he surely wouldn't have been able to return his Pokémon himself, but luckily Squirtle tackled Spearow to the ground, enabling Nicholas to return it. 

"Thanks Squirtle. Couldn't have done it without you."  
"Squirtle, Irtle."  
"Hate to interrupt your... touching.... conversation, but we wanted to pass through Mt. Moon today, right?"  
"NO! Please no!"  
"Howdy fellas!"  
"What? Who are you?"  
The person Nicholas was referring to, was an overweight man sitting on a motorbike who wore a cowboy hat and the most clichéd american clothing ever.  
"Well I'm Billy, and I'm an undercover investigator. I was gonna arrest that Team Magic fella but he kinda teleported away."  
"Hold up, if you're undercover, shouldn't you keep that information secret?"  
"Yeah, but I kinda need yer testimony and I doubt you'd tell a random stranger all that stuff." he searched through his pockets for something before pulling out a police badge "Here, in case ya doubt me."  
"Alright, what do you want to know?"   
"Wait Daniel!" What? "Please let me do the talkint, I'm better at this than you. You don't even remember what you had for lunch yesterday"  
That's not true! Yesterday he ate... errr... chicken?   
"Just so you know, we had sandwiches."   
"Well then, if you want, he can interview you, but I knew we had sandwiches!"   
"Sure you did." Nicholas stated in his most obnoxiously sarcastic voice. 

"Alright then, please tell me exactly what happpened regarding that crook."  
And so explain he did.   
Tough his storytelling style was quite boring in Daniel's opinion, the undercover policeman seemed satisfied, and even agreed to bring them past Mt. Moon with his motorbike. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

As they arrived on Route 4, Nicholas immediately embarrassed the both of them by nearly throwing up.  
"Weel kiddo, I guess high-speed ain't 'preciated by everybody, huh?"  
"I don't think you'd want him to open his mouth now." Unlike Daniel who would be perfectly happy if Nicholas couldn't open his mouth in general.  
"Yeah weel, I'll be going now fellas. See ya." And with that, he got on his bike and drove of in the general direction of Pewter City.

"Soooooo.... Are you going to stop embarrassing us, ou what?"  
"One - urp- minute please." Gross.

After they settled that matter, Nicholas looked much healthier, and a bush nearby smelled like half digested lunch.  
"Can we move on now? I wanna get to Cerulean City today!"   
"Calm yourself. Tough you might yearn for reaching your goal, it can be better to instead appreciate the path." His eyes twinkled again! How does he keep doing that?  
"Dexio, can you please tell me how he does that twinkly thing?"  
"Zzt, . . . searching . . . search results for 'twinkly thing' :  
Twinkly: Home  
Twinkly is the new generation connected LED light strings, controllable via smartphone. The most advanced lighting technology at your fingertips, ready to make your decorations truly magical. Control the lights remotely ...  
Missing: thing | Must include: thing"

An awkward silence encompassed them "... That's not at all what I wanted to know."  
"Zzt, what did you want to know?"  
"How he makes his eyes twinkle!"  
"The primary reason why the eyes 'twinkle' is that when there is a momentary partial closure of the lids - this squeezes the tear film (the very thin layer of a highly specialized fluid on the surface of our eyes) into a smaller space - thus this swallow layer of fluid gets "deeper" for a few seconds.  
Feb 10, 2012  
www.bodylanguagesuccess.com › d...  
Dating & Romance Nonverbal Communication Secret No. 1010: What Makes the Twinkle in Her Eye? - Body Language & Emotional Intelligence"

"... Alright. .... Wait a second! Dating and Romance?!"   
"It's '&' not 'and'. It differs when it comes to the pronunciation."   
Nicholas was getting weirder each day. Well, that's nothing new, but still, this is pretty much the strangest he's ever been!  
Well, strange nitpicking aside, there was still the matter of reaching Cerulean City, so the trio started walking again.  
"We're so slow! Couldn't the police guy have driven us all the way to the gym?"  
"I suppose he was in a hurry." After a small pause, in which he paled significantly, Nicholas continued "Besides, I'm kind of happy that we don't have to go that fast!"  
Sadly, everything Nicholas said afterwards were some strange mutterings, to quit for Daniel to understand.

Anyways, since they were following the road for quite a while by now, the trio soon got into viewing distance of Cerulean City.  
Normally, Daniel would expect Nicholas to state something obvious like 'That's where we need to go' or 'We're almost there'.  
This time however, he kept quiet, probably 'cause he's still shocked from the bike's speed.  
"Squirtle!"  
Ah, that's probably the obvious thing Nicholas was supposed to state.  
"Yeah, that's right."  
Does he seriously still pretend to understand what Squirtle says?  
That's ridiculous!  
"Squir? Squirtle Squirtle Tle!"  
Nicholas seemed to nod at that "I'm hungry too buddy. When we arrive we can eat at a restaurant, I've looked it up on the internet, it has pretty good reviews."  
He typed something on Dexio before showing the Pokédex' screen to Daniel.  
"Tempura Temptation? Sounds... interesting."  
"They recently decided to expand to Japan. But their first establishment opened in St. Peanutsburg."  
"What kind of city would name itself after peanuts?"  
"Well, it's over in America, so I suppose that there might be a part of their history that we are unaware of."

... Aaaand he's back to his bloated way of talking again. Just great.  
He could've just said 'we don't know everything about their history' or something like that, but nooooo, he just had to use fancy words.

Before he could think of a good quip, Nicholas' voice distracted him "Hey, look, we've arrived!"  
"Really? That was fast!"  
"Tle, Squirtle!"  
"I'm just as surprised as you Squirtle."  
Why does he keep pretending to understand Squirtle? Does he want to look cool? That makes sense! Since he's so uncool, he pretends to have some kind of special ability! ... Or he actually understands his Pokémon, but that makes no sense, right?  
"Daniel? Are you listening? I asked you a question!"  
Really? Oops, seems like he didn't pay enough attention.  
"What did you ask?"  
"I asked whether you are sure that you can defeat the Gym Leaders."  
"'Course I can.... wait a second, leaders? Plural?"  
"Yes. Lily, Daisy, and Violet. They're a trio of Gym Leaders. Usually the challenger and the trio can each use two Pokémon. They specialize in Water-types, but I would think you already know that, right?"  
Nope he didn't. But luckily he doesn't have to tell that to Nicholas.  
"Of course I know! I'm no amateur!"  
"Technically we could be called amateurs, considering that currently we only have one badge."  
That's not how it works, right? There's no way they're amateurs! Daniel's too awesome for that!

Before he could think of a good comeback to Nicholas' statement, he ran into a street light.  
"Are you OK?"  
"Noooooo...." Daniel could practically see the Staryus floating around his head.  
"You've got to be more alert! Nicholas' life lesson nr. 47: Your surroundings might or might not be important, you should always be alert, in case they are." The twinkly eyes returned! Does he do this on purpose?  
Sadly he didn't ask that, but rather something far more embarrassing "Purple penguins prancing playfully..."  
"........ Yeah, I think we should get you to a hospital."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I hope you liked it and to see you next time.
> 
> Next Tuesday: The Water Flowers of Cerulean City


	7. The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

What just happened?  
Daniel was sitting on the sidewalk and Nicholas, Squirtle and a bunch of passerbys were looking at him with a concerned expression.  
"Are you alright Daniel? You ran into a streetlight and were saying some pretty weird stuff."  
"I'm fine, don't worry." Well the headache is kinda annoying, but that's it.  
Nicholas frowned at that "Are you sure? Sometimes trying not to burden others will put an even greater burden on them."  
The twinkling in his eyes returned!  
"Oh deary me, I should probably call an ambulance."  
What? Who's that random fat lady?  
"On the other hand, I still have a headache from having to take care of a bunch of children."  
And she left. Well that was weird.  
"Squir?"  
"I don't understand this either. She seems quite frustrated.  
"Can we please challenge the gym now?"   
"I don't know, can we?"   
What? Why does he act like a teacher?   
"I'm just kidding. We can go, but I'm up first, okay?" 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, after eating lunch, they arrived at the gym, where they were greeted by a swimmer who introduced himself as "Yōhei, the gym's very own Move Tutor!"  
A Move Tutor? Awesome!  
Nicholas seemed to agree with Daniel's opinion "That is good to know. Might I request you to teach my Spearow Heat Wave?"  
"I'm afraid not. I can only teach moves of the Water type, and only one per challenger. This move however, comes entirely free of cost."  
"Then I would appreciate it if you taught my Squirtle Aqua Tail."  
"Sure. Should I also teach your friend's... " "Brother." "...brother's Pokémon a move?"  
"Sure!"  
"Errr.... Daniel? None of your Pokémon can learn a Water-type move."  
Wait, What?!  
That's so unfair!  
"Really? That's too bad. If you ever get a Pokémon I can teach, just come talk to me."  
"Alright."  
"Great. I'm going to teach your Squirtle the move now. This could take a while so your brother can challenge the gym in the meanwhile."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

That sounded like a good idea, meaning that Daniel of course came up with it before the swimmer did!   
Anyways, he was currently trying to find the gym leaders. A harder task than you may expect, as they seem to have disappeared.  
Luckily he ran into some old, bearded, janitor that he could ask "The gym leaders? They're doing their dance-swimming-thing! I remember when their mother was still the gym leader! She was the one that started this ridiculous show! Why can't they be good gym leaders and fight like their aunt? She didn't get to inherit the gym despite the fact that she was infinitely more qualified! "  
"Alright?" That guy seems aggressive.  
"Yes, but that's not all! They actually decided to give out badges for free! You don't even have to beat them!"  
"I don't?! But where's the honor in that?"  
"Exactly! They seem to have completely forgotten their duty! And the league chairman does nothing about it! He doesn't revoke their gym licenses, doesn't assign a new leader, doesn't close down the gym, nothing!"  
"What?!"  
"I don't understand it myself! And the worst part? The trainers simply take the badges without demanding a fight!"  
"I do want a fight tough!"  
"Me too! Now that I think about it, that gives me an idea! You could battle me to earn the Cascade Badge!"  
That sound like a good idea! "Sure!"  
"Great! We can't use the main pool for the fight, they're having their stupid show there, but there's another pool down the hall."  
"Pool? Aren't we going to have a Pokémon battle?"  
The janitor laughed at Daniel's question "Yes, but we're gonna fight at the pool, as is tradition!"

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon the two of them were standing on the opposite sides of a big round pool while their Pokémon materialized on a round platform within the pool.  
"Alright, each trainer uses two Pokémon that can only be switched once their first one fainted."  
"Seel!"  
"Driiiiill!"  
"Zzt, Seel, the Sea Lion Pokémon, though they used to be hunted for their fur, two years ago a law was passed that prohibits people from hunting them."  
"Seel, get in the water!"  
"Beedrill, Silver Wind!"  
Seel jumped into the water while Beedrill's attack simply hit the spot he'd been standing on before.  
"Aurora Beam! Let's go!"  
"Beedrill, use another Silver Wind!"  
The colorful beam and the glittering gust of air met between their users and exploded into some pretty light and silver powder.  
"Get behind it and use another Aurora Beam!"  
"Don't let it get behind you! Chase it and attack!"  
Beedrill indeed followed Seel from above, but then something strange happened - Beedrill used a new attack!  
Some black energy was being charged up with every beat of Beedrill's wings, before Seel was hit with a wave of that energy.  
"Zzt, Pursuit, a Dark type move. The user chases the target while charging energy."  
"Sounds cool."  
"Seel, use Aqua Jet!"  
"Out of the way!"  
Seel burst out of the pool, narrowly missing Beedrill and instead landing on the round platform.  
"Ice Shard!"  
"Silver Wind!"  
A bunch of icicles formed in the air in front of Seel which then threw them at Beedrill by slapping them with it's tail.  
Luckily, the glittering gust of air launched the shards of ice back at Seel, hitting him with Beedrill's attack and his own.   
"Great! Now use Twineedle!"  
"Get out of the way!"  
Before Seel could jump out of the way, Beedrill hit it with his to needle-like arms.  
"Seeeeee...."  
Seell fainted!

"Well done, you've already lasted longer than the actual Leaders of this Gym! But now it's gonna get harder! Go, Lapras!"  
The janitor's Lapras appeared in the water and called out it's name with a beautiful voice.  
"Zzt, Lapras, the Transport Pokémon, they communicate with each other other through their songs."  
"Beedrill, Twineedle!"  
"Sing, Lapras!"  
Lapras sang out with it's astonishingly beautiful voice, causing Beedrill to fall asleep and into water.  
"Beedrill?" Oh no, it can't swim! Especially not when it's asleep.   
Seeing no other option, he recalled Beedrill into it's Pokéball.

"Oddish, you can do this!"  
Materializing on the platform, Oddish cheerfully jumped twice.  
"Dish!"  
"Sing again!"  
"Get underwater! Then you can't hear it!"  
Oddish followed his command and dove into the pool, while Lapras' song went unheard by the Weed Pokémon.  
"Great! Now use Secret Power!"  
The water surrounding the Lapras turned into a sphere around it, before rising up and smashing into the platform.  
But.... why?  
It looked differently last time!  
"Lapras, Ice Shard!"  
"Oddish, use Growth!"  
Oddish was submerged after being hit by the icicles, but when it breached the pool's surface again, it was about twice it's original size!  
"Great! Now use Razor Leaf!"  
"Another Ice Shard!"  
The sharp leaves cut through the icicles that were being fired at Oddish, and hit Lapras.  
"Dragon Breath!"   
"Razor Leaf!"   
Lapras inhaled, before firing a powerful dark blue beam of energy from it's mouth, completely disintegrating the leaves Oddish used to attack, before hitting Oddish itself.   
"O-o-oddi..."   
"Oddish! Are you OK?"   
"D-dish!"   
It nodded. Or at least it tried. Nodding is kind of hard when you don't have a neck.   
"Try Acid!"   
Oddish's attack managed to dissolve part of the platform, but didn't hit Lapras.  
"Dragon Breath!"  
"Dive out of the way!"  
The beam of energy almost hit Daniel's Pokémon, but luckily missed by a couple of centimeters.  
"Dive under the platform and then use Acid!"  
"Lapras, get into the water!"  
Lapras didn't seem able to move on solid ground, as it simply struggled uselessly while the water around the platform was poisoned.  
"Great! Now use Secret Power!"  
The poisoned water enveloped Lapras and what remained of the platform, before slamming them into the ceiling.  
"Laaaaa..."  
Lapras actually fainted!

"Well, that was unexpected. Congrats kid, you're quite a capable trainer."  
"Really? Thanks!"  
"Yeah, I'd say you definitely earned yourself a Cascade Badge!"  
"Great! Uhh... Shouldn't you give me the Badge now?"   
"I'm not a Gym Leader, why should I have the Badge? But don't worry, there's a box full of badges in the Gym Leaders office. If you'd wait a minute in can get 'em for you."  
"Sure."

A minute later he indeed returned with a shiny new Badge for Daniel.   
"By the way, traded Pokémon will be more obedient now that you have proof of defeating two Gym Leaders."  
"Cool"

Taking the Badge, Daniel left the gym to look for his brother, who looked quite.... wet.   
"What happened?"   
Nicholas looked very annoyed at that question "Some guys in white clothes decided to suck the water out of the gym and onto the streets. The mini-tsunami that was created swept me to the Pokémon Center." What? "But at least the big vacuum also sucked in and spat out this!" With a smile, he retrieved a Cascade Badge.   
"What?! But you didn't fight!"   
"I know, but I'm most certainly not complaining. Speaking of fighting, how'd your battle go?"   
"Well, the actual Gym Leaders didn't want to fight, so I fought a janitor instead!"   
"What?! Don't answer that. I don't even want to know what you got up to this time."  
"Squir Squirtle."  
Ah, Squirtle is also here. He's kinda forgettable today. He barely said anything!   
"You're right. We should get Daniel's Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center."   
Oh, right. Daniel completely forgot about that! Though that doesn't mean that's what Squirtle said! 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, Daniel's Pokémon were restored to perfect health by the nurse, who looked just like the nurse in Pewter City.  
"Huh? Didn't you work at a different Pokémon Center?"  
"What? Oh, you mean one of my relatives. We all work in different cities. Of course some of us have different jobs. Like Ayako, she's a voice actor."  
"How many sisters do you have?!"   
"Not all of them are my sisters. Some are cousins, aunts, etc."  
"Hey! Can you hurry up? I need my Vileplume healed!"   
Well, that guy is rude. But the nurse decided apparently not to comment on that.   
"Of course." to Daniel she said. "Sorry, but I need to do my job, so I don't have time to talk right now."   
Before Daniel could apologize, Nicholas pulled him away.   
"Hey! What was that for?"   
"You were blocking the queue."  
"I was? I didn't realize."   
Nicholas looked very surprised at that "You actually admit a mistake? That's something I didn't expect."   
"I'm just full of surprises. Wait....Did you just say I don't usually admit my mistakes?!"   
"I didn't exactly state it. I simply implied it."  
"That's the same thing thing!"   
"No it isn't. I didn't say 'you never admit your mistakes'."   
"But you implied it!"   
"Exactly!" What? He.... huh? Why does he admit it now, but not earlier? And why is he grinning like that? 

"Sooooo... Where are we going next?"   
"Vermillion City. We can get a Thunder Badge there. While I would prefer going somewhere else, as the Gym Leader uses Electric-type Pokémon, the other cities are much farther away."  
"Alright! Vermillion City it is then! .... You know, Vermillion sounds like a cool name for, like, a snake army or something!"   
"... Snake army?! Nevermind, I don't want to know."  
"Come on, it sounds like a cool idea!"   
"It sounds bizarre. And a tiny bit menacing."  
"See? An army has to be menacing!"   
On their way out of the city, the two continued talking about snake armies and slow-motion weaponry....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter/episode.
> 
> Next Tuesday: The Path to the Pokémon League


	8. The Path to the Pokémon League

"Squirtle, Aqua Tail!"  
"Flareon, get out of the way and use Scratch!"  
Nicholas was currently fighting some guy in a training battle, on a dirt road next to a river.  
Daniel was using the opportunity to solve one of the crossword-puzzles in the app he downloaded earlier that day.  
"Hmmm... Landmark in Sydney, five letters....." T-h-e-a-t-e-r? No, that's too long. Then how was that thing called? Perhaps O-p-e-r-a? Yes! That fits perfectly!  
"Reooo..."

"Flareon! No! Gloom, it's your time to shine"  
"Squirtle, come back! Spearow this is a task for you!"  
Can't they be quite? Sure, normally Daniel's the one who doesn't shut up, but that's 'cause he has a lot of important things to say!  
Anyways, headwear, three letters, last letter is a P... H-a-t? No.... Ah! Cap!  
"Absorb!"  
"Can't you be quiet over there?!"  
"What? No, I'm having a battle with your brother, that can't be done silently!"  
"I have to agree with... errr... what's your name?"  
"Oh, I'm Masashi. And thanks for agreeing"  
"No problem. Sorry Daniel, but this could take a while."   
Well, that's just inconsiderate!  
"I'm pretty sure you can solve your puzzle anyways, right? You're so smart after all!"  
Finally he recognizes Daniel's intelligence! It was about time!  
"Of course. I'm so smart that I can do this even with all the noise in the background!"  
"Great. Now Spearow, we'll hit the Gloom with a Peck attack!"  
Wait... Why was Nicholas grinning?  
Now... Fire type Pokémon, signature Pokémon of Galar's undefeated Champion, nine letters, sixth letter is a Z, first a C... Why would Daniel know the signature Pokémon of some european guy? Just 'cause he's originally from Austria, doesn't mean that he knows everything that he knows everything that goes on over there!  
Daniel still remembered vividly how they first moved to Kanto... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's my Florges EX? It should be here with the other Fairy type cards!"  
Nicholas was of course complaining about something! He always is!  
"I don't know! Come over here and help me and the others with unpacking thei other bags! Perhaps it slipped into one of them."  
"YES!" Nicholas should come and help out!   
Nicholas and their parents looked at him strangely.  
Did he say that out loud?! "Err... I mean... cough, cough."  
Nicholas still stared "Did... you just spell out a cough?"  
"Yes I did! Don't discriminate against people that do!"  
Ha! That confused him!  
"...... Why do you know about discrimination? You're seven!"  
As he tried to lift the next box, Daniel was treated to quite the painful experience "Argh! Way too heavy!"  
"Careful. The computer is in that box!" Right. Their father needs it for his job of designing advertisements. "Here, let me carry that."

"Could you tell me, where I'm supposed to put grandma's dish collection and her 'fancy' Vivillon teacup?"   
"Leave them in the box for now. We can throw them ou..... put them away later." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Daniel could reminisce more, he was interrupted by a loud yell of "SOLAR BEAM!!"  
"Seriously?! You used two exclamation marks?! Oh, right! Fearow, come back!"  
Well, that was rude.  
But it looks like they they're gonna fight a second time, so Daniel had time to get lost in his thoughts again.  
This time, he was thinking of why they moved to Japan in the first place...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The six of them (children, parents and Dad's parents) were currently sitting at a table in a nondescript restaurant at Vienna International Airport.   
"Boarding is supposed to start in two hours, that's still plenty of time left to eat."   
Why Daniel's father said that? Because grandma was bothering him with her restless insistence that they should hurry.   
"But what if it starts early?"   
"Then it would announce so."  
"Still... I have a bad feeling!"   
"You always have a bad feeling about everything."  
"No I don't! I immediately agrred that we should move!"   
"That's not that big of a feat, considering that Team Neon wants to awaken a Legendary Pokémon to wipe out Europe's population!"   
"Speaking of the whole evil-slash-crazy-slash-both team stuff, don't you think it's a bit strange that there's almost no other family that wants to leave the country? " Wow, Nicholas finally asked an interesting question!  
"Well, they all seem to put their faith into some twelve year old girl that's apparently supposed to defeat Team Neon."  
Ah yes, *that* girl. She's on the news quite often, as she ran into Team Neon a couple of times and usually delayed their plans.  
It's quite funny that her parents apparently decided to name her 'Desert'. What kind of name ist that?  
"Well, back in my days we couldn't just emigrate if some guys in brightly colored suits decided to rob museums."  
Hearing his Grandfather's input, Nicholas decided to say something "Well, technically museum-robbing isn't their main goal. They want to steal some ancient coin to summon some legendary basilisk-like Pokémon. Secondly, I would like to add that their suits are colored Crimsun."  
"Crimson? I don't think that's a fitting description."  
"No, Crimsun with an U. It's a strange mixture of hot pink, lime green, and orange."  
Well that sounds disturbing. But it also kind of fits!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sadly, Daniel couldn't remember the rest of the conversation. In fact, the only reason he couldn't forget the part he was just thinking about, was the abomination that Nicholas calls Crimsun.  
Since he couldn't think clearly anyways, what with all the shouting coming from the battle, Daniel decided to go looking for a Pokémon to add to his team.  
Since there was a river nearby, he decided to look there first. After all, there could be a Goldeen there. Daniel had always wanted to catch a Goldeen, as they have a poisonous stinger. That's so awesome!  
While he failed to catch a Goldeen two weeks ago, when he encountered one, this time would be different!.... Mainly because he couldn't actually find a Goldeen.  
But at the very least he found a different Pokémon!  
It was a duck-like one that clutched a leek stalk.  
"Zzt, Farfetch'd, the Wild Duck Pokémon, it is currently unknown where they get their leek, the currently most popular theory would be, that they cultivate it in secret 'gardens' similar to how Bulbasaur are known to care for flowers"  
"Huh, you sound interesting. I'm going to catch you!"  
"Faaaarfetch!"  
Oh, it seems that it already noticed him.  
"Beedrill, go!" obeying him, the Bug type Pokémon materialized next to the Farfetch'd "Silver Wind!"  
"Fetch?!"  
The Farfetch'd jumped out of the way, and landed next to Beedrill, which it then hit with it's leek.  
"Zzt, Leaf Blade, a Grass type move. The user hits the target with a blade-shaped leaf."  
"Sounds cool. Beedrill, use Twineedle!"  
"Beeeeee!"  
"Far?!"  
Beedrill hit it's target with it's two pointy arms.  
"Fetch'd! Faaar!"  
The duck-thing was surrounded by flames, and then charged at Beedrill, hitting it very hard!  
"Zzt, Brave Bird, a Flying type move. The user envelopes himself in flames, before tackling the target."  
"Flames? But it's a Flying type move! Beedrill, try hitting it with Silver Wind! I've got to catch this one!"  
Beedrill obeyed, pushing the enemy into the river with a glittering gust of wind.  
"Now, Pokéball GO!" With that, he threw the ball at the wild Pokémon.  
It shook once...  
Twice...  
Thrice...  
*Click*  
Awesome! Farfetch'd was caught!  
And the the battle will surely be over soon too...

———————————————————————————————————————————————

The battle wasn't actually over for quite a while.  
It took still ten minutes to finish after Daniel returned.  
Luckily, they finally were on their way again afterwards.  
"So, what did you do while I fought Masashi?"  
"Oh, I caught a Farfetch'd!"  
"Really?! They were quite rare back in Europe. I'm pretty sure they were even considering an endangered species. Luckily they're quite common in Kanto and Johto."  
An endangered species? But they're pretty much just ducks! Ducks aren't usually endangered, so why are Farfetch'd?  
Before he could ask Nicholas or Dexio about that, something popped into existence right before their eyes!  
"Urgh... This is not where I wanted to go!"  
[Well, where did you want to go?]  
"Somewhere I can rob people!"  
That's... Ravioli!  
[First, be glad that I even decided to not go right back to sleep and am instead listening to your complaints. Second, if you'd turn around you'd see that there are two trainers behind you.]

He did as asked, and looked shocked upon seeing what trainers were standing behind him "Wait, you're the kid that called me Ravioli!"  
"Technically the term is teen, considering that I'm fourteen. But I appreciate you not using it, as it usually has negative connotations, considering that teens are infamous for making foolish decisions." He stopped for a moment, before adding "Of course I do not intend to insult our teen-aged readers. I was merely pointing out the reputation of people between 12 and 18."  
[What?]  
"You know, for once I agree with you. What?"  
Wow, seems like Nicholas is weird enough to make Ravioli, a criminal, have the same question as Daniel.  
"Anyway, I presume that you are here to fight us?"  
That seemed to pull Ravioli out of his bewildered expression "Right, and this time I'll win! Go, Nidorino!"  
Nicholas pulled out a Pokéball, probably Spearow's as Squirtle is almost never in it's ball, but Daniel interrupted him by immediately releasing his newest Pokémon "Farfetch'd! It's your turn!"  
"A Farfetch'd?" Nicholas asked curiosly "You didn't tell me you caught one."

Not even bothering with Nicholas' ignorance of Daniel's ability to catch Pokémon, he instead commanded his Farfetch'd to use "Brave Bird!"  
"Nidorino, evade the attack and counter it with Double Kick!"  
Daniel's Pokémon was enveloped in flames and tried to hit Ravioli's Nidorino, but it jumped out of the way, before kicking Farfetch'd twice.  
"Now, Poison Sting!"  
"Don't let Ravioli's Pokémon hit you!"  
"MY NAME IS RAVIO!"  
Nicholas looked like he wanted to say something about the 'caps lock of rage' as he called it, but apparently decided against it.  
Sadly, Farfetch'd was distracted by Ravioli's screaming and couldn't get out of the way of Nidorino's attack in time.  
"Leaf Blade!"  
"Uh, Daniel? Grass type moves don't deal much damage to Poison type Pokémon like Ravioli's Nidorino!"  
Oops, well, at least Daniel hopefully won't forget that fact again.  
"MY NAME IS RAVIO! WHEN WILL YOU REMEMBER THAT?"  
"Well, don't use Leaf Blade then. Let's try... err... Aerial Ace?"  
Farfetch'd moved so fast it became a blur, and stopped behind Ravioli's Pokémon, which it hit on the way.   
"Fury Attack!"   
"Aerial Ace seems strong. Let's use it again!"   
Nidorino turned around the face Daniel's Pokémon, but it already hit it with an Aerial Ace.   
"N-Nidooooo..."   
Nidorino fainted! 

"Come back! Abra, it's your turn!"   
[Must you wake me up? I was just dreaming about a very good looking Lopunny!]   
"Do you mean Megan's? She's the only team member I know that owns one."  
[You know, not all my dreams are show me real things. Some are just dreams.]  
"Well, I'm kinda glad about that. Megan isn't exactly the sanest after all."   
[Yeah, I know that. But I don't think I want to fight right now, so I'll teleports us to her.]  
Once again, a soft pop could be heard, and Ravioli and his partner where nowhere to be found.   
"Soooo.... who's this 'Megan'?"   
That's all Nicholas can think about?! They just faced a criminal!   
"You know, the only Megan I know is from a book series about Greek and Roman gods."   
"You mean like Arema?" That was one of the Pokémon that were worshipped as a god by the Romans after all.   
"Not exactly. It's a more human version known as Ares to the Greeks and Mars to the Romans. Some other legendary Pokémon also get anthropomorphized versions. Like Zeter."  
"Aha." Wow. They just fought a thief, and now they're talking about books.   
"Anyway, in these books, there's that one legendary/god that is turned into a human and now has to defeat three Roman emperors and he..."  
Well, this could take a while. Nicholas never shuts up once he starts talking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter/episode and would also like to wish you a merry Christmas. I know technically it's still two days away, but I don't post episodes on Thursday, so this is the closest I can get to Christmas. 
> 
> Next Tuesday: The School of Hard Knocks


	9. The School of Hard Knocks

Nope.  
There's no way that Daniel will ever tell someone what just happened!  
"Heh. Seems like your Oddish isn't quit *ripe* for fighting."  
Aaaand now he's got to listen Nicholas' terrine puns.  
"Don't worry. I'm sure that you'll become a very strong trainer with a bit more training."  
A bit more?! But Daniel's been training his Beedrill for the last hour before his brother decided to challenge him to a Pokémon battle.  
"I could try to teach you how to have a chance at winning against Electric type Pokémon with your Farfetch'd, which is normally weak to them.  
What? How would he do that? Farfetch'd can't just ignore his weakness, that's not how it works!  
Nicholas seemed to see the sceptical expression on Daniel's face and decided to explain what he meant.  
"You see, some Farfetch'd can learn Mud Slap. It's quite a versatile move, as it makes the target less likely to hit because it gets mud in it's eyes and is a Ground type move, which makes it strong against Electric Pokémon." with his eyes twinkling he added "Sometimes, people underestimate others that are weaker than them. This allows the weaker people to become even stronger than those that believed themselves to be to strong."  
Why does he always accompany his 'wise' lessons, or Nicholas' Life Lessons, as he calls them, with twinkling eyes? Does that mean he wants to find someone to date? Dexio said so!

Then, Daniel remembered what Nicholas was actually offering him.  
"Mud Slap has an advantage against Electric types?! Great! Farfetch'd needs to learn that!"  
"Sure, I can try to teach it. Let's hope that it's among those Farfetch'd that can actually learn Mud Slap!"  
Hope? Daniel was praying to Mew, that should have more of an effect than simply hoping for something! After all, Mew has been proven to exist by multiple scientists on TV!

Then, something very much unexpected happened - a Chansey appeared!  
It just ran out of the woods, fleeing from a Onix!  
"OOOOOONIIIII!"  
"That Onix seems quite angry.... I wonder what happened...."  
Before Nicholas could decide to interview a raging, giant, rock beast, Daniel dragged him back.  
"Hey, I wanted to investigate!"  
You can investigate later! First we fight that Onix, then you train me, and *then* you can investigate! Go Oddish!"  
When nothing happened, Daniel remembered that Oddish was still knocked out next to them.  
"Right.... Then go, Bedr-"  
Before he could continue, the wild Chaney approached his Pokémon in order to heal it.  
"Oddi? Dish!" Oddish seemed quite happy to not be knocked out anymore.  
"Well... That's also nice. Oddish, Secret Power!"  
"Squirtle, Aqua Tail!"  
Oddish extended a long vine and slapped Onix with it on his head. Strangely, that caused it to fall asleep, making it unable to avoid being by Squirtle's tail, which was surrounded by water.   
"Why'd the Onix fall asleep?"   
Naturally, Nicholas had the answer "The attack hit a certain nerve cluster in the hostile Pokémon's body, causing it to fall unconscious for a brief time."   
What? Who refers to his enemy as 'the hostile Pokémon'? Can't he just call it by it's name?   
"I recommend we use this chance to attack. Squirtle, use another Aqua Tail!"  
"Right, Oddish, use Razor Leaf!"  
"Chan?" The Chansey seemed to be amazed by Secret Power causing the enemy to faint. Of course the only reason that worked was because Daniel was clever enough to use the attack!  
Anyway, the attacks hit the Onix, causing it to wake up and flee.

"Yeah! We did it!"  
"I suppose the opposing forces have indeed been forced to surrender."  
Okay, something ain't right. Even Nicholas doesn't talk that... flowery! In fact, he sounds like some military general!  
"Chan?"  
Ah, right. They've saved the Chansey, it probably wants to thank them.  
"You would make a very good addition to our forces. After all, you seem quite capable of performing medical tasks."   
There's definitely something wrong!  
Before Daniel could call him out on that, Nicholas threw a Pokéball and caught the formerly wild Chansey.  
It didn't even shake, meaning that it instantly caught it's target.   
"Hey, Nick, why are you talking in a weird way? You've been doing that ever since I made the Onix faint!"   
"Dish, Dish!"   
"Right, since *Oddish* made the Onix faint!"   
"I'm not communicating in a particularly different way than before."  
"Squir!"   
Squirtle seems to agree with Daniel. Or perhaps it's simply hungry. It's not exactly easy to understand a turtle, after all.  
"Hey, by the way, what did Squirtle just say?"   
Nicholas looked confused "Why should I know?"   
Okay, that's it! Normally he understands, or pretends to understand, his favorite Pokémon!   
Squirtle also seemed to pick up on that fact "Squirtle, Squir Squirtle!"   
"Even I know that he said that you're not behaving like usual!"   
Strangely, Nicholas started chuckling! 

"Heh, I guess you're a bigger threat than we envisioned."  
Before Daniel could ask what he meant, his brother collapsed to the ground, and a ghostly... thing flouted out of his body!   
"Zzt, Haunter, the Gas Pokémon. It consumes the souls of the recently deceased to strengthen itself."   
"What?! Why was that thing in Nicholas' body?"   
Suddenly, multiple Haunters and other ghostly Pokémon appeared and used Squirtle's Pokéball to return it! "Zzt, Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. It's what's left of a soul consumed by a Haunter. Zzt, Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon. After a Haunter consumes a large, but currently unknown, number of souls, it becomes a Gengar."   
"And why are they all here?"   
Strangely, a Gengar with a fern green coloring stepped forward and actually answered his question!   
[We are the remains of Japan's army, and this is our territory! By entering, you've forfeit your life.]   
"Our life?! But I'm really attached to that!"  
[That's not our problem. It's bad enough that the Onix managed to get away. It would have been a very valuable asset.]  
"Asset? Are you building an army?! But Japan isn't even at war right now!"  
[The humans think they aren't. Our forces are at war with every living being!]   
The ghosts floated closer. 

"Can't you let us go? I'm sure that there's a way to convince you!"   
[No. The living have forgotten us. That can't be forgiven.]  
"Forgotten?! But there are monuments, tales and memories of your deeds! That's the opposite of forgotten!"   
[... There are?]   
"Of course! Don't you know that? Where have you been all this time? Have you never thought to visit your descendants?"   
[... No... we didn't think they'd remember us. We didn't do anything important, after all. When we tried to conquer China, we've immediately been defeated by their golems.]  
"Golems?"  
[Yes. Regice, Regirock, Registeel, Regifire, Regidrago, Regieleki and Regigrass. After the war, some of them were given to Japan as a peace offering.]  
"Well, even if you failed, your family will always love you! That's how families work!"   
[I don't believe you have the ability to speak for all of humanity. There's no reason why we would be admired.]  
"Admired and loved aren't the same thing! You don't need to perform great deeds to earn your family's love! Besides, even if your family doesn't love you for whatever reason, you can still meet people that admire you for trying, if that's what you want!"   
[No. Many of us only joined the army to make their families proud, something we failed at.]   
"No! Winning or losing isn't what makes you a good person. It's trying to fight for what you believe in that should make others proud."  
[You seem wise. Tell me, are there others like you out there? People that would still believe in us?]   
"Yes! There are many people like that! My grandparents for example! ...Ok, they also think success is a bad thing, but many others don't think so, but would still admire and mourn you!"   
After the ghosts looked at each other for a bit and communicated in their language, the green Gengar turned to Daniel again.   
[Human, we believe you. Thank you for helping us regain our faith. We will not take your life, your brother's, the Chansey's, or any of you Pokémon's. In fact, we'll be living... or however you'd call it... peacefully.]  
With that, the ghosts began flying away in random directions, probably to search for their descendants. 

Since Nicholas was still unconscious, Daniel decided to fill out a crossword-puzzle to calm down.   
While he was trying to figure out the capital of Brazil, he realized the danger he was in just a couple of minutes ago.   
Their journey almost ended!   
When he started to calm down again, he was shocked again by a random voice!   
"No... I don't wanna go to the bean-bonus-room..."   
Luckily, it was just Nicholas mumbling something in his... sleep? Unconsciousness?  
This is the one time Daniel would like to be his brother instead, because then he wouldn't have had to deal with aggressive ghostly soldiers.   
Nicholas stirred again, seemingly dreaming something.   
"Well, this could take a while... Ah! I know! Farfetch'd, come out!"   
Farfetch'd obliged, looking around for someone to fight.   
"Hey Farfetch'd, how about I teach you Mud Slap?"   
Daniel's duck didn't seem to like that and returned itself into it's Pokéball.   
"What? Why don't you want to learn a new move? Dexio, can you tell me?"  
"Zzt, please type in your question."  
"Why doesn't Farfetch'd wanna train?"  
"Zzt, . . . searching . . . search results for 'Why doesn't farfetched wanna train':"  
Farfetched? No! "I wanted you to search for Farfetch'd! The Pokémon!"  
Stupid search engine.  
"Zzt, did you want informations about Farfetch'd?"  
"Yes!" Daniel couldn't keep the annoyance out of his voice.  
"Zzt, Farfetch'd (Galericulata Olus) is a Pokémon that can be predominantly found in Asia. It is considered a delicacy-"  
"Stop! That's not what I want to know either!"

"Hrmm? What's going on?"  
Oh dear, now Nicholas woke up.  
"Why are you screaming at Dexio?"  
He was screaming? Oops.  
"Well, Dexio refuses to tell me why my Farfetch'd refuses to train!"  
Nicholas looked slightly interested, before taking on a very confused expression. "Wait... Why was I sleeping?"  
Right, that happened. Daniel had hoped to be able to push it out of his mind.  
"Weeellllll....... a ghost possessed you."  
Now his brother looked even more confused "What?"  
"Yeah. Also, you caught a Chansey."  
"Hm? Oh, do you mean the Chansey we wanted to defend from the Onix?"  
"You remember that?"  
"Yes. I can't remember what happened after the fight started, tough."  
Ah. That would be when he was possessed. "Yeah, you only missed me being awesome! I scared of dozens of ghosts all by myself!"  
That didn't exactly seem to convince his brother, if the sceptical expression on his face was anything to go by.  
"Sure you did." Yep, Daniel was right. Nicholas' voice was as dry as the Sahara on a sunny day.  
"Well, ghost stories aside, you said your Farfetch'd doesn't want to train? May I see it myself?"  
"Of course. Come out!"  
"Faaarfet!"  
"So, do you want to train?"  
"Fet! Fafafarfeeeet!"Ouch! Farfetch'd hit him over the head with it's leek, before returning itself.  
"See? He refuses to train!"  
"Hmm... Squirtle, could you translate that?...Squirtle? Where are you?"  
Ah, right. "The ghosts returned it to it's ball. It's over there."  
"Alright, thanks." Picking the Pokéball up, Nicholas decided to make his eyes twinkle again "You know, sometimes we believe what others say, despite there being proof that they're lying. On the other hand, we sometimes are unable to believe the truth."  
Seriously! How does he do that?!

"Tle! Squirtle."  
"Hi Squirtle. I've missed you too. Daniel's Farfetch'd doesn't want to train. When asked, it answers with 'Fet! Fafafarfeeeet!' could you translate that?"  
Squirtle blushed, before answering "Squi, Squir, Squi. Tletle, Squirsqui."  
Nicholas, now blushing too answered "Well, Farfetch'd said some words I'd rather *not* repeat, but the gist is, that she thinks that she doesn't need to train."  
...She? "I thought it's a male. Also, everyone needs to train! Including hi- her!"  
"Well, first off, Squirtle used female pronouns. Secondly, it appears that she doesn't respect you yet. Perhaps you will eventually earn her respect tough."  
Great. The one Pokémon he has that isn't poisonous refuses to obey him. Usually things like this happen to his brother.  
"Well, do you have any ideas how to make it see how strong I am?"  
"You could try becoming strong."  
"Thanks... Wait! Are you claiming that I'm not strong right now?!"  
"Perhaps..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you had a merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/any other holiday you might be celebrating.  
> Of course I also hope that you enjoyed this episode. 
> 
> Next Tuesday: Scyther and the Hidden Valley


	10. Scyther and the Hidden Valley

"...Let's see... I think we need to turn... left now. Or was it right?"  
This map is garbage! It doesn't show the river they passed a couple of minutes ago, or the mountain that's in front of them right now. Even the forest they've been passing through for the last hour-or-so and the valley they've found themselves in at the moment weren't on it.   
"Why did I let you be our navigator?" Nicholas asked very dryly.  
Squirtle simply facepalmed.  
"No, that's not right. The city is supposed to be... over there!" Daniel exclaimed, pointing towards the rising sun.  
"Err... Daniel? I'm pretty sure we're south of east of Vermillion City right now. We'd simply be walking away from it if we follow your lead."   
"Well, it's not my fault! The map isn't accurate!"  
"It is. But I think you made us leave the are the map depicts."  
No! That can't be true, right?  
"I know for a fact, that that mountain normally wouldn't be on our way. Besides, it and the surrounding land are owned by Roqueto International. We're not even supposed to be here!"  
"Really? Oh dear."  
"Oh dear indeed."  
Just their luck. Dexio needs to be recharged and thus can't be asked for directions, just when they managed to get themselves lost.  
Before Daniel could recommend to climb the mountain, they were rudely interrupted by a wild Eevee running over to them.  
"Eev!"  
"An Eevee?! They're extremely rare!"  
"Really? I gotta catch it!"  
As he threw a Pokéball, something cut it in half - it was a Scyther!

"Scyth!" It hissed aggressively.  
"Amazing! It's a Scyther. They're quite fast Pokémon."  
Cool. The only thing that isn't amazing, is the fact that it decided to prevent Daniel from catching the Eevee.   
"Scy, Scyther!"   
"Squirtle, would you please translate?"   
"Squir." it nodded "Squirtle Squi?"   
"Scy, Thescy! Scy Scy, Scyther!"   
"Squirtle Tltltle!"   
"I see..."   
...What was that?   
"Scyther says that it protects the wild Pokémon around here from being captured by Mr. Roqueto's employees. It least I presume that he means them. He simply calls them 'humans with black uniforms'."  
"Sooooo... would you let yourself be caught?"  
"Scy? Scy Scyther!" Scyther responded by cutting parts of Daniel's hair, something that probably meant 'No!'.

Suddenly, a faint *pop* could be heard, and two people plus a Pokémon appeared in front of them. One of them was Ravioli, the other, a woman of about 20 years, had brown hair and a futuristic suit, similar to that of Samus, a character from one of Nicholas' favorite games. Unlike Samus, though, the woman didn't wear a helmet, but rather some sort of visor.  
The Pokémon by her side was white and dog-like, scaly thing. Some of these scales were green or black, instead of white.

"Who's the lady with the dog?" Good question Nicholas.  
"I am L, and this is Project Z. That's all you need to know."  
"Wow. You're a fan of names consisting of single letters, huh? Also, I once read a Manga that had a guy named L. He was quite smart. Tough I personally didn't like him that much as a person."   
"You read that too?! Wait... we are both talking about the same story, right?" Really? Ravioli is also obsessed with comics or Manga or whatever they're called.   
"Good question. I'd assume the writer could use this for a gag that has us talking about different things without realizing it. I'm talking about Mortality Note by the way."   
"Yeah, me too." 

Seriously? We're up against criminals and *this* is what they're talking about?!   
"Well, you already know me, but in case you forgot, I'm Ravio."   
[Why are we talking with them like this? I thought we wanted to steal all the Pokémon 'round here]   
"We do. But it's common courtesy to introduce ourselves."  
"Steal the Pokémon? But this is private property!"   
"That's why they're talking about stealing them instead of simply catching them." ... Good point. It's still illegal tough.   
"This is childish. Z, Hyper Beam."

The strange Pokémon fired a huge beam at the brothers!  
Luckily they narrowly managed to jump out of the way in time!   
"Again. Use it on the Squirtle this time."   
The dog obeyed and hit Squirtle, throwing it against a tree and knocking it out.   
"What? But that's impossible! After a Pokémon uses Hyper Beam it needs to rest for some time!"  
Huh? But the bad dog didn't rest at all!   
"Yep, the scientists of our Kanto division created the strongest of all Pokémon!"   
"Quit. You mustn't tell our enemies anything." No! Please let him continue revealing all their secrets!   
"Come on, there's no harm in telling them how strong we are!"   
[For once I agree with L. You've always been too naive for your own good.]   
"Zyg!" the doggo seemed to agree too. 

"Z Claws."  
Z Claws? Daniel didn't know that move, but apparently the strange Pokémon did, as it somehow made it's head dissappear and enlargened it's claws to hit the Scyther.  
"Spearow, I *really* need you right now!"  
"Spear!"  
"Aerial Ace!"  
Nicholas' Pokémon hit the white canine, making it's claws fall apart into white particles, before absorbing them to reform it's head.   
"Uh?"  
Strangely, Nicholas seemed intrigued, rather than confused "I see... it appears that this creature is made of many small fragments, similar to cells. This could be quite bad, as it seems that it can control even parts that aren't directly connected to the main body."  
[Perhaps. That is something we aren't allowed to know. Probably because my partner would tell everyone. Or perhaps because none of our three other attempts at stealing Pokémon succeeded so far.]  
"Spear?"  
"Hmm...I wonder how it controls the cells... there would need to be a core somewhere in it's body... I know that your species has heat vision. Can you see a core?"  
Spearow looked closely, but shook its head in the end "Rorow."  
"That's too bad... Daniel, do you have any ideas?"  
"Dont let them think of a way to defeat you. Z Flare."  
The wolf-dog-thing simply spat some cells at Spearow, which stuck to it's body.  
"That's it?"  
Then the cells ignited.  
"Oh. Well, you should probably return Spearow to it's 'ball. "  
"On it. Chansey, perhaps you'll succeed."  
"Beedrill, please help Chansey and Scyther."  
"Beeee!"  
"Use Z Flare at it's full power."  
Full power?

The albino-looking dog completely disintegrated it's body.  
"Err... This doesn't look like an attack."  
"Indeed it doesn't. That isn't a reason to let our guard down tough." As paranoid as always, huh? It's quite clear that the dog retreated.  
Sadly, Nicholas seemed to have been right, as suddenly flames erupted all around the clearing.  
"What?! How did this happen?"  
"It appears that the creature spread itself around, before igniting every single cell of it's body."  
[That's what it looks like. Also, it's getting quite hot. I can't sleep in these conditions!]

All of their Pokémon, including the wild Scyther and Eevee, were knocked out.  
"Oh no! They've successfully defeated all of my Pokémon! Daniel, you need to use Oddish and Farfetch'd!"  
"Both? But I can't command two Pokémon at the same time!"  
"Then I'll help with Farfetch'd! I believe I know how to maximize it's chances of succeeding in a fight. Of course I can't be a hundred percent sure, considering what we're dealing with."  
Well, it's our best chance.  
"Faaaaarfe!"  
"Odd?"  
"Farfetch'd, you need to listen to my brother! Oddish, use Secret Power!"  
"Farfetch'd, please use Gust!"  
Oddish threw green-glowing leaves at the dog, which it frustratingly managed to avoid.  
In the meanwhile, the rebellious Farfetch'd twirled it's leek very fast, creating a gust of wind that literally blew the wolf(?) apart!  
"How?" Wouldn't you like to know Ravioli? Although... Daniel had no clue either.  
Nicholas would've probably pushed his glasses up if he had some, but settled on brushing his hair behind his ears "Just as planned."  
"Planned? How did you know that this would happen?"  
"I'm glad you asked. Since it's cells can be separated from it's core, it seems obvious that an outside influence would also be able to do so."  
Sound... logical?

"I see. You have bought yourselves a chance to escape. But you won't be able to use it. Jiggly, stop them."  
A Wigglytuff appeared out of a Pokéball.  
"Jiggly? That sound to... cute for someone like you." You're right Ravioli, it does!   
[For once I agree with my partner.]  
"Jiggly, Shadow Rush."  
"Eh? I don't know that move! Daniel, Farfetch'd needs to keep up the wind to prevent the creature from reforming. I'm afraid Oddish will have to do this alone."  
With a nod, Daniel acknowledged that statement, before focusing on the fight "Oddish, Razor Leaf!"  
The Wigglytuff was enveloped in dark purplish energy, before rushing forward, completely ignoring the leaves thrown at it.  
"Oddi!" Uh oh, that looked like it hurt!  
"Shadow Rave."  
"Get out of the way!"  
"Odd!"  
Daniel's starter barely managed to get out of the way of some shadowy spikes.  
"Daniel, I believe I have an idea. If you'd let me command Oddish I could probably defeat the Wigglytuff! "  
"Sure. Oddish, please obey Nicholas."  
[Don't let them use their plan!]  
"I won't. Jiggly, Shadow Rush."  
The Jigglypuff hit it's target, knocking them both into a bush.  
"Oh no! Are you OK?"  
Strangely, Nicholas was wearing a broad smile "Perfect. Now... Farfetch'd, Brave Bird on L and Ravio!"  
"Faaaaaarfet!"  
"Wait stop!" The vegetable-carrying duck didn't stop, but rather hit them with it's attack, launching them into the sky.  
"Jiggly, come back."  
"Team Magic has to retreat agaaaaiiiii...."  
*Ding*

"Just as planned."  
Planned?! "What was your plan? And why did you need Oddish?"   
"It's surprisingly simple. Since Shadow Rush seems to be similar to the move Tackle, I figured that if we'd get the Wigglytuff to launch itself out of the way we could attack the trainers themselves. I simply needed to use Oddish as the bait. The strange creature doesn't seem to be a threat anymore. With how far the wind probably carried it, it would take months to reform. "  
"Wow! I couldn't have thought of that!"  
"Well, that's nothing unusual. But in all seriousness, I didn't believe we'd find a way to win this fight. I suppose now I can genuinely say that I've outsmarted L. Sure, it wasn't *the* L, but I'm still quite proud."  
Daniel still had no idea what L Nicholas was talking about, but did it even matter? They won! That should be enough!  
"Fafar!"  
"Yeah, you were awesome, now go back into your Pokéball."  
Remarkably, Farfetch'd obeyed him, wow!  
"Sooooo... Where are we going now?"  
Wait Daniel. First we should heal everyone with a potion. " Oh, right.  
"Squirtle."  
"Scy? Thether!"  
"Yeah, you should be OK by now. I've still got some other Pokémon to heal tough."  
"Scyther?"  
"Squir."  
"He asked what happened."  
"Well, we've totally destroyed the dog thing and launched everyone else into the sky! Couldn't have done it without my brother's plan tough." This time Nicholas actually deserved some praise, sooo.... yeah.  
"Aaand... done!"  
Cool.  
"Scy? Scyther Scy?"  
"Huh? Squirtle, could you translate for us?"  
Squirtle nodded "Squirtle Squi Tletle."  
"Ah, I see." cool for him. No one else does tough. "He asks why we saved and healed him and Eevee." Ah, thanks for explaining. "I did it because I care about all Pokémon, including those that aren't part of my team."

"Sythhhher!"  
"Squirtle Squirtle." Thanks for translating?  
"Oh, really?"  
"What's up? What did it say?"  
"He. The Scyther is a male. Also, it said that it would like to accompany me on my journey."  
WAIT WHAT?! Why does he always get the cool Pokémon? Daniel has some grass, a bee and a duck, while Nicholas has a turtle, a fairy and a blade-wielding monster bug! Those are so much better than his!  
"I mean, if you really want to come with me I wouldn't object. In fact, I'd love to have you on my team."  
"Scyther."  
The Scyther pressed the button of a Pokéball on Nicholas' belt, causing it to get sucked inside the 'ball.  
"Great. This will prove to be quite interesting."  
Of course! Of course he talks in the most pretentious way that exists!  
"... their blades are known to..." What? Oh no! He's started on a rant again! NOOOOOO!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter/episode.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Paras - The Stray Pokémon


	11. Paras - The Stray Pokémon

"Faaaarfe!"  
Ouch! Daniel's Pokémon hit him over the head with it's leek! Why won't it listen? All Daniel wanted it to do was try and learn Mud Slap, why won't it obey?  
The look on Nicholas' face clearly showed that he was trying very hard not to laugh "I guess it doesn't want to learn. Perhaps it simply doesn't *root* for you. Get it? Root? Because it carries a plant." That was... terrible!  
"Seriously?"  
"Hey, what's the problem? That pun was *delicious*. You know, 'cause you can eat vegetables."  
Daniel didn't even dignify that with a response and instead simply groaned.  
Before Nicholas could think of another horrible pun, they were luckily interrupted by loud circus music.  
"What in the sixteen realms?!"  
That question earned Nicholas some *very* strange looks from Squirtle, Farfetch'd and Daniel.  
"What? It's a reference! Anyways, how about... hmm... what in the blazes? Is that better?"  
"Yes."  
"Okay. What in the blazes?!"  
"Good question. I wanna see what's going on there! Maybe we can see some clowns!"  
Nicholas didn't seem so enthusiastic "I don't know... we'd probably have to pay to watch the show, something I'm not too keen on. After all, we could use the money to buy things like books or TMs."  
"Well, then I at least want to see the tent!"  
"That should be possible. I suppose that something fun would be good after fighting that strange creature yesterday."  
"Yay!"

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon the entered a clearing in which a large purple and silver tent was located, while a bunch of different people were standing next to tables, trying to sell the stuff on them.  
"KOREAN MAGIKARPS! REAL KOREAN MAGIKARPS! YOU CAN USE THEM TO BREED SHINY POKÉMON!" Argh! That's far too loud!  
"GET YOURSELF SOME REAL FRIED INKAY! TWO PLATES FOR THE PRICE OF ONE-AND-A-HALF!" Why does everyone have to scream?  
"Fried Inkay? Inkay aren't even native to Japan. They can only be found in Kalos and Alola. I wouldn't want to buy those, as they areprobably pretty expensive, considering the transportation needed." Aha.  
"BUY SOME WYNAUT EGGS! THEY COST ONLY 2500 POKÉDOLLARS!"  
Can't they just shut up?!  
"We'd better get to the tent, perhaps it's free admission."  
That would be so cool!

At the tent, a guy in a black suit with a purple tie and gloves stopped them "Do you have reservations?"  
"We need reservations? I take it that means that we can't get in for free?" Yes. That's what it means.   
"Exactly! We're sold out! There are no seats left, so scram!"  
Wow. Rude.

Daniel wanted to go back to the merchants, but his brother dragged him behind the tent.  
"Daniel. Did you notice something strange about all this?"  
"That they're not the nicest?"  
Nicholas facepalmed "Yes, that too, but what I meant was this whole circus. It's purple! Remember who also wore purple?"  
"That girl in the strange music video?"  
"Strange music... ooooh, no no no, that was urple! I actually meant Mr. Noodle!"  
Mr. Noodle? Wait, does he mean Ravioli?  
"You mean Abra's owner/partner?"  
"Exactly. The supposedly 'great' Fernando also did. L didn't tough."  
"You think this circus has something to do with Team Magic?"  
"Precisely. You need to remember that they use the Pokémon they steal for illegal entertainment. A circus usually features entertainment as far as I know." That... makes sense! "We could try looking someone for more precise information."   
But "They wouldn't tell us that they're doing something illegal, right?"   
Bizarrely, his brother grinned "You're indeed right. That is why we're not going to ask direct questions. I don't think they would find it suspicious if we say our parents are in the tent but we got lost. After all, I'm a teenager and you're a kid. Society tends to underestimate people at our ages. And once we're in, we can say what they're up to."  
Since Daniel couldn't think of anything wrong with that plan, they decided to go ahead with it.

"Excuse me, could you help us find our parents?"  
The woman they approached turned around with a kind expression "Of course~. Can you tell me where you last saw them?"  
"They were going into the big tent, but we got sidetracked by the guy selling fried Inkay."  
"I see. Well, then we should probably get in. I don't have anything to do right now anyway."  
At the entrance the guy from before stopped them again, but the kind lady told him that their parents were in there.  
In the tent, Nicholas immediately started looking through the rows of seats, while Daniel saw what a Team Magic guy was making two Magnemites do to a Paras - they were constantly electrocuting it and, when it fainted, a Chansey revived it, only for it to get shocked again!  
Daniel looked horrified, but Nicholas pulled him over "Look Daniel! Our parents are over there! Thank you for bringing us in."  
"Oh, no problem~." After that, she left the tent, while the brothers were walking towards two elderly people, before turning to the left and entering the public bathroom, hiding in an empty stall.

"What was that supposed to be?" There was simply no way to explain Nick's actions.  
"First, please don't call me Nick, not even in your thoughts. Second, you were looking at the show instead of the audience. I had to get rid of her before she became suspicious."  
"Suspicious? Why would she suspect anything?"  
Outside, the speakers made an announcement "LAAAADYS AND GENTLEMAN! NEXT UP, YOU CAN MARVEL AT THE AMAZING MIGHT OF THE BLACK GYARADOS!"  
Aha. Wait a second... black Gyarados don't exist!  
Meanwhile, Nicholas answered his earlier question "We claimed to be looking for our parents. It would be incredibly suspicious to not actually try and find them."  
Well, that made a lot of sense.  
"Soooo, this is illegal, right? I mean, they were simply torturing that poor Paras!"  
"Indeed it is. But Team Magic aren't the only people who have broken the law here. Every spectator is also guilty of at least Pokémon trafficking and conspiracy to theft. I don't really know what other laws they might have broken tough. Luckily, I managed to identify three of them! "  
Before Daniel could ask who these people were, two individuals stepped into the bathroom. They started talking, apparently not aware of the brothers presence.

"W-w-what do you w-want?" The first voice sounded decidedly male.  
"You know what I want. The research on Project Z. Where is it?" That voice sounded like... L!  
While Daniel was listening to the conversation, Nicholas pressed some buttons on Dexio, before holding the 'dex to the door.  
"I-I-I don't have it! W-w-why would I?"  
"Don't play this game with me. You were a researcher on the project before you left. Now all the data has been copied and deleted. You left the day this happened."  
"T-t-that doesn't have to mean anything!"  
"It does. The cameras recorded you copying the research onto your Pokédex and then deleting it from all the computers."  
"W-what? I didn't do a-anything! I don't even have a r-reason to do that!"  
"Give me you Pokédex and tell me what you did with the data."  
"I d-d-didn't do anything! Please take my 'dex but leave me alone!"  
A sound like a Pokéball opening could be heard.  
"Z-2, use Psychic."   
"Now tell me. What did you do with the data you stole?"   
The unknown person talked in an extremely monotone voice "I sold it to Team Rocket. They paid me 500.000.000 Pokédollars."  
Five hundred million? That's 5 million Euro!  
"I see. Z-2 use Z Insanity."   
A bright light could be seen emitting from something behind the door of the Stall they were hiding in.   
While the light shone, the unidentified voice could be heard screaming as loud as he could. What could possibly be going on there? Daniel faintly registered the circus music growing louder, probably to drown out the screams. His mind however was occupied with what this Z-2...thing. What did it do? Why does it exist? How was it created?   
A couple of seconds later the light faded and the screaming stopped. The only sounds that could be heard were the music fading to a more pleasant level, a Pokémon being returned and a person leaving the room.   
"What....was...that?" Good question, Nick. "I'm calling the police now. Don't leave the stall!"   
Nicholas started typing a number on Dexio, before telling an officer where they were and what transpired. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, sirens could be heard, together with the sounds of Pokémon battles and some shouts.   
Carefully opening the door of the stall they were hiding in, Daniel could see a female, blue-haired police officer and her Growlithe fighting some Team Magic guys.   
"Daniel, please close the door. We wouldn't want to be hit by any stray attacks."   
Before Daniel could do so, a Paras ran into their stall.   
"Para Paras."   
"Zzt, Paras, the Mushroom Pokémon. The mushrooms on it's back drain nutrients from it's body to sustain themselves."   
"Hm? Could this be the Paras that was tortured by the Magnemites?" That... could be true!   
When Daniel tried to pet it, the wild(?) Pokémon ran to theeft and crawled up the wall.   
"Hey! I just wanted to pet it!"   
For some reason, Nicholas looked quite annoyed at this comment "Are you serious? After what happened to it, it's only natural that it wouldn't trust humans." Oh.. Well, that actually does make sense!   
Suddenly, Daniel could hear faint sobs from the stall to their left.   
"Huh? What's that?"   
Since he didn't want his brother to stop him, he immediately ran out of their hiding place to find out who's the sad person. 

He soon saw a bald man huddled up in the corner, next to the toilet.  
"...Are you okay?"   
The man looked startled "Uoy era ohw? Uoy dnes yeht did? Won rettam ton seod ti! Eromyna srettam gnihton!"   
.........What?   
That's when Daniel recognized his voice - it's the same voice that had an argument with L!   
"Can you also say that in English?"   
"Edragyz etearcer ot deirt evah dluohs reven ew!"   
At that moment, Nicholas also decidedly to see what was going on, while the Paras followed him.   
"Daniel? What did you do to that guy?"   
"I didn't do anything! He was like this when I got here!"   
"Alright... I suspect that this 'Z Insanity' did something to his mind. Well, while you try to understand him, I'll be talking to the police. "  
Aaaaand he's gone again. Well, at least the Paras stayed.   
"Okay.... Can you tell me what exactly happened to you?"   
"T'nac I! Tluaf ym lla si ti! Meht htiw krow ot ediced t'ndid I fi, evila eb llits dluow Otokim!"   
"What? Can't you talk in a normal way?"   
"Par? Paras?"   
The Paras carefully reached out to the guy with one of it's claws.   
"Sarap? Yrros m'I! Em fo esuaceb uoy thguac yeht!"   
"What language is this? Verstehen sie mich besser wenn ich Deutsch rede?" 

At that moment, a blonde police officer stepped into the bathroom.   
"I assume that you are Daniel Faba? Your brother has already given us the names of all the people he recognized in the crowd. I don't think you're needed anymore. The recordings on your Pokédex shod be proof enough. So... yeah, you're good to go. I'll take care of this guy."  
"But... what about the Pokémon they stole?"   
"They will be returned to their owners."  
"Par? Par Paras!"   
The Paras took a Pokéball from the crazy guy's belt and nudged it towards Daniel.   
"Errr... thanks? Whose Pokéball is this?"   
Now, the mushroom Pokémon pressed the button on the 'ball, causing it to get sucked in.   
"Huh? This guy owned you?"   
Now the officer looked at him, kindly.   
"Apparently the Paras wants to travel with you."   
What? "But why?"   
"It probably knows that... something happened to it's previous owner, but it doesn't want to be alone."   
"Tnaw uoy fi ti peek nac uoy. Yawyna ti evresed t'nod I!"   
What?! Peek?! Peek at what?   
"I.... think he just gave you his blessings."   
"Ah. Nice?" That seemed like an appropriate reaction. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Later, Ravio was forced to attend another one of the ringleader's mandatory meetings. Ringleader is such a strange titel, isn't it? Couldn't it be, like... regional boss?   
[Why are you think about *that*? We're most likely going to be reprimanded again and you're thinking about ridiculous titles?]   
Right. Abra's mind reading is still as annoying as ever.   
[I heard that]   
I know.   
Before Abra could make another sassy retort, a certain someone with a ridiculous title slammed their fist on the table in front of him.   
"YOU! Are you even listening?"   
"Yes sir! ...What were we talking about?"  
"About your next mission! Since you can't ever do something right, you're hereby assigned to Operation Fishfood! Even you shouldn't be able to screw that up!"   
Operation Fishfood?   
[If you'd bother listening to the boss, you'd know what that entails. Basically, it's a plan to steal the S.S Anne.]   
Steal? Why would someone steal a ship?   
[I don't know. I could probably try to read someone's mind, but if they catch me doing that, we're in big trouble. That information requires a higher security clearance than we have.]   
Alright...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed my writing.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Here Comes the Eevee Squad


	12. Here Comes the Eevee Squad

This time, Farfetch'd didn't even respond to Daniel's attempt at getting him to train, and instead simply returned himself.  
"Oh, come on! Why doesn't it like me?"  
"Squir? Squirtle tle."  
"I think Squirtle may have a point. Perhaps your Farfetch'd doesn't believe it needs to train. It could help to have it lose against another Pokémon that's not quite as powerful like Team Magic's creature. While something this strong would beat your Farfetch'd in 97.5% of cases, I highly doubt that anyone would be ashamed at losing to something that powerful. And yes, I calculated the percentage."  
Well, leaving Nicholas'... interesting calculations aside, the plan still sounded quite good.  
"Perhaps Paras would be willing to help with that?"  
"I don't think so. Flying type attacks have a very big advantage because Paras is Bug/Grass, meaning that it takes four times the regular damage from Brave Bird or Gust."  
Well, that's not very nice.  
"Squirtle squi?"   
"No. While I appreciate your help and most certainly don't underestimate your capabilities, you'd be at an advantage. I believe Chansey or Spearow would be our best bet."  
Alright... "So... can we do this now?"  
"I'm afraid not. Chansey is still exhausted from the training earlier, and Spearow, well, I miiiiiiight have accidentally put some... unhealthy berrys in it's food. It's currently trying to recover in the safety of it's 'ball."  
Aha. Well, at least it's probably not as bad as the abomination that's grandpa's cooking. 

"Hmm... I just had an idea. Since we can't try and motivate your Farfetch'd right now anyways, how about a little training battle? Squirtle vs. Paras? None of them has an advantage towards the other."   
Sounds good "Sure."  
Just as Daniel threw Paras' Pokéball, something jumped out of a bush, snatching it while it was still in the air, and running away.  
"What in the Dusk Dragon's name was that?"  
"It took my one of my 'balls!"  
"You know, this sounds really wrong out of context."  
Huh? What does that mean? Also, why is he talking about that, when someone just stole... kidnapped... pokénapped... whatever, Paras?!  
"I wonder who or what that might have been..."  
Good question. BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER NOW! IT TOOK HIS POKÉMON!  
"Errr... Daniel? You look like you're screaming internally. Shouldn't we focus on figuring out what just happened?"  
"That's not relevant! We only need to get Paras back! I don't care about your detective stuff!"  
"I suppose you do have a point. It is indeed imperative that we recover the stolen Pokémon."  
Finally!

———————————————————————————————————————————————

So they went on their search. Since, according to Gloomle Maps, the only thing to the west was an abandoned warehouse, Nicholas thought it a good idea to investigate, as "Abandoned buildings are quite the convenient hide-out for thieves and similar criminals."  
Now, they discovered that the warehouse was locked, with the only way in being a broken window, far too small for a human.  
"So much for that idea. I don't think that anyone would be able to get in."  
"Not necessarily. A small Pokémon would most likely still be able to enter. On the other hand, I don't really see a reason for... say... a Pichu to steal Pokémon. Then again, perhaps someone trained them to bring stolen items to this warehouse."  
"...Or this place doesn't have anything to with what happened. "  
"If that is the case, it will most likely be of further importance later on. After all, there's no reason for the writer to include something like this if it will never be relevant. Unless this is a Red Herring."  
*What?* "I really don't think that we're looking at a fish right now!"  
Why did Nick facepalm at that?  
"I don't mean literally. A Red Herring is a misleading piece of information. It it is far too obvious to the reader it is a Dead Herring instead."  
Aha?  
"Well, that aside, I do believe that your Oddish could easily fit through the window. It might need to lose it's leafage tough."  
"I'm not going to give it a.... haircut(?) just because you're paranoid!"  
"Too bad. But luckily, I have another idea. Squirtle, Aqua Tail on the window!"

Squirtle's tail was engulfed in water, before it slammed into the broken window.  
With a loud noise, the window was completely destroyed, leaving a gap big enough for a human to enter.  
"There. That worked rather well."  
What?! He just destroyed a random window! That's... that's.... illegal!  
"Come on. We should go investigate." With that said, Nicholas climbed through the hole.  
Well, there's no harm in accompanying him, right? After all, the damage has already been done!

Inside the warehouse, filled with crates, pipes and other construction equipment, they found a large pile of objects like Pokéballs, water bottles or mobile phones.  
"Whoa! You were right! I bet Paras' Pokéball is somewhere among all this stuff!"  
"Indeed. We should probably call the police. They can try to figure out who stole all this 'treasure'."  
"Eev!"

Startled, Nicholas turned around "An Eevee? Or rather, multiple Eevees? I suppose that they stole everything we see here."  
Turning around as well, Daniel could see a bunch of Eevees glaring at them.   
They look so cute! Did they really steal stuff? No! It can't be! Something this adorable has to be innocent!   
"Eee eevee vee!"  
"Squirtle, if you would."  
"Squir squirtle tle."  
"I see. The Eevees really did steal all of this. I wonder why they did it..."  
Who cares? They're far too cute to imprison!  
"Zzt, Charm, a Fairy type move. The user acts cute/attractive to distract his opponent."  
What? It wants to manipulate him?! Well that's not a very cute thing to do!  
"Vee vee vee!"  
"Tle uirtle!"  
"Interesting. Someone trained them to steal objects from trainers. He gives them special treats whenever they bring him something he likes. How very interesting indeed. I didn't expect there to be a bigger conspiracy."  
A bigger conspiracy? Some random burglar trained them to help them! That's the only thing that's going on right now!  
"Eev eevee!"   
Another Eevee spoke up this time. Since the others immediately stepped aside, it was probably their leader.   
"Eee veee!"  
"Squir squirtle. Tle tle squir."  
"Well that's not good. It appears that they wish to steal everything we have. I do think that we should defend ourselves." Yeah, that last part is kind of obvious. There's probably no one that just lets themselves get robbed. 

"Beedrill, help us out!"   
"Squirtle, Aqua Tail!"   
"Silver Wind!"   
The Eevees started charging at them. There were even some they hadn't seen before, rushing out from being boxes, the treasure pile and other random junk.   
Squirtle hit one that was jumping at it, while Beedrill's glittering wind blew two into the wall.   
"Eeeeee!"  
One of them hit Squirtle, launching it at a large metal pipe.  
"Withdraw!"  
Still flying towards the pipe, Squirtle retreated into it's shell, causing it to bounce of the hard metal, and be launched at the Eevee that attacked it. Awesome! Daniel had no clue whether that was planned or not, but in the end, does it really matter?  
"Beedrill, use Twineedle!"  
Beedrill hit one of the attacking cuties, but another jumped on the bee's back, biting it!  
"Shake it off!"  
"Beeeeee!"  
It didn't seem to work! The Eevee just wouldn't come off!  
"Squirtle, help Beedrill with a Bubble attack!"  
"Squir!"   
"Thanks!"  
It worked! The bubbles pushed the attacking Pokémon away, causing it to land on the floor.  
"Eeee!"  
"Now, how about another Silver Wind!"  
"Squirtle, use Bite!"  
Their attacks hit, but there were still so many Eevees still standing! The only two that they already defeated, were the ones that hit into the wall because of Beedrill's first Silver Wind!  
"Now I could really use one of you plans!"  
"I'm trying to think of one! It's quite hard to do so while being attacked by a horde of fluffy thieves tough!"  
Good point! Still, he should really hurry up!  
Another Eevee came running at them, but was pushed back by the Oddish, Daniel released from it's Pokéball.  
"I think I might have an idea! However, it only has a ninety-five point seven percent chance of success!"  
"That's good enough for me!"  
"Alright. You need to use Farfetch'd tough. Are you sure that he will listen to your commands? If not, success becomes seventy-two point three percent less likely!"  
"Only one way to find out! Farfetch'd, I choose you!"  
"Now make it use brave bird on the crates!"  
"Sure. Do what Nick told you!"

Farfetch'd obeyed! It charged into a big wooden box, igniting it!  
"What now?"  
"The smoke might be able to scare away the Eevees! Most beings have a natural fear of fire. Since only one crate was hit, the fire shouldn't be able to spread!"  
The Eevees did indeed rush out of warehouse in a frenzy!  
"Cool. But how are we gonna get outside? They're probably waiting for us right now!"  
"It is actually surprisingly simple. Squirtle, please extinguish the flames." after his Pokémon did just that, he continued "Since there's no more smoke, they'll come rushing in again. Then, we can pick them off one-by-one!"  
Smart.  
They did indeed do that. Luckily, Beedrill, Oddish, Farfetch'd and Squirtle were able to fight them off, now that they had the advantage.   
"Allright, I suspect that you should also search for Paras' Pokéball in the pile. After all, we'd have an even bigger advantage if five it were to help to rest of our Pokémon!"  
That's quite a good point. Soon, he found the 'ball, releasing his newest Pokémon. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

With Paras helping them, the brothers quickly managed to scare the foxes(?) away!  
Only the leader stayed, looking quite defeated.  
"We did it! Good work guys! You can come back now!"  
"Indeed. Without your Pokémon we couldn't have won!"  
"Well, your plan was also very good!"  
"Ee?"  
"You know, I think I should catch this Eevee!" What? Why? "Since it is the leader, the gang probably won't be able to continue their operations without it. Besides, it does seem to be quite talented. I probably could try and train it to behave and be a very strong Vaporeon."  
"What's a Vaporeon?"  
"Zzt, Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokémon. It is one of the eight currently known eeveelutions. Unlike other Pokémon, it consists only of Water, allowing it easily shake off most attacks."  
"Indeed. Pokéball, go!"  
The ball Nick threw shook thrice, before making a clicking noise.  
"Great! I have caught an Eevee! Now I only need a Water Stone to evolve it! Well, technically I could also use a different stone, but I don't really want...say...a Leafeon. Of course that doesn't mean that I consider them weak. They just don't fight my fighting style as well as a Vaporeon. "

Soon, the two of them were sitting in the shade of a large tree, between two hills.   
"Sooooo.... Can you try and help me train Farfetch'd now?"  
"I suppose Chansey has had enough rest."  
"Great! Wait... What are you doing?" Nicholas was typing something on Dexio!  
"Well, I just remembered that I still have to call the police so that they can get all the stolen items."  
Another delay?! Nooooooooo!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this episode.   
> Fun Fact: I originally intended for Fernando, the guy from the second chapter, to be the one that trained the Eevees. I cut that out, as the last two episodes already featured Team Magic quite heavily.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Mystery at the Harbour


	13. Mystery at the Harbour

Not again!   
The two of them (three, if you count Squirtle) just arrived in Vermillion City, and now Nicholas ran into a street light! Why does someone always do that? Well, at least this time it wasn't Daniel who hurt himself.  
"Quack quack. I'm a duck!" Aaaand now he's talking nonsense.  
"Get up! It's time to challenge the gym!"  
"Kikeriki! I'm a rooster!" Seriously?  
"Squirtle? Squi." Huh? Squirtle was typing something on Dexio!  
"Zzt, scanning wound . . . estimated time of recovery: 7 minutes." Ah. So that's what Squirtle was typing.  
"Well, since we still have to wait seven minutes, what are we going to do in the meanwhile? I think I'm in the mood for some crossword-puzzles right now."  
Sadly, Squirtle didn't seem to appreciate the art solving puzzles, as it decided to use a Water Gun on Daniel's head "Hey! That wasn't nice!"  
"Squir! Squirtle tle!" If he didn't know better, Daniel would read the Pokémon's expression as denial.  
"You do know that I can't understand you, right?"  
Squirtle simply shook it's head, before it started to make some weird gestures.

"Poli!"  
What was that?  
Daniel quickly turned around to see a strange Pokémon standing there, looking angry.  
"Zzt, Poliwhirl, the Tadpole Pokémon. Despite being only found in freshwater lakes, they could also survive in oceans. Scientists currently don't know why they can't be found at sea."  
"Sounds like you're a Water Pokémon. Wait... did you attack me?!"  
It nodded! So Squirtle really was innocent!  
"Whiiiiirl! Pol polo poli pol!"  
"...... What?" This was pretty much the one time Nicholas' strange ability to understand his Squirtle would come in handy! After all, Squirtle could help him translate.   
"Squirtle squir squi squir." Cool. Still not understandable by most people.  
Then, the two Water type Pokémon ran off into an alley! What are they trying to do? Seeing no other option, Daniel released his Beedrill, ordering it to carry Nicholas, as they followed the other two 'mons.

The five of them quickly arrived at what looked like a crime scene. There were knocked out people and Pokémon everywhere, with the only conscious human stealing everyone's wallets! His Pokémon, two Wartortles and a Hitmonchan, were helping him.  
"Hey! Stop that!"  
"The guy and his pals immediately turned towards Daniel upon hearing him "Now who are you? Two lil' kids? Eh, ya probably don't have tha' much money anyway. Just get outta here and ah won't have 'ta bet ya up!"  
Kids?! Ten years old people should be considered teens! After all, there's only one 'e' more in teen than in ten! Oh, and Nick is a teen too.  
"Poli! Whi whi whiiirl!"  
"Uh? Ye'r frog wants ta fight? Well, ah s'ppose that ah'll have ta teach ya some manners! Torto, Aura Sphere!"  
Poliwhirls aren't frogs! They're tadpoles!  
Unsurprisingly, the thief's turtle was rude enough to interrupt him by firing a sphere of light blue energy at him! He was launched back about two meters, causing him to land crash into the Poliwhirl! That hurt! The tadpole isn't even close to being soft enough to cushion his fall!   
Before he could get up, the thief was already running away! 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

About an hour later, Daniel, Nicholas, Squirtle and the Poliwhirl were sitting at the police station. Currently, he was explaining to a Jenny what had happened.   
"I see. Sadly we can't afford to search for a regular thief. Team Magic is still quite active around here, meaning that most of the force is occupied with them. Just yesterday, we arrested some team members trying to sneak on-board the S.S. Anne."   
"That's too bad. Well, do you at least have an idea as to who's the owner of the Poliwrath my brother encountered?"   
"Actually we do! You see, it's trainer has reported it as missing two days ago. It appears that the thief you encountered had stolen it. Suffice to say that it will be returned immediately."   
Cool! At least one case can be closed!   
"Hmm... I just remembered something! I still need to take care of all the paperwork regarding the McTian case. I'm afraid you need to leave now."   
"Of course. Have a nice day." 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Soon, the brothers and their turtle were sitting at the harbour, enjoying some ice cream.  
"What's the matter? You look quite frustrated." Did he?  
"Well, I'm just kind of angry that that thief got away."  
"Ah, I see. Well, not to worry. I'm sure that he will be caught eventually." That's it?! He doesn't care about that guy in the slightest?!  
"I suppose we could try to investigate the crime scene if you want. After all, the gym is already closed for today." Alright! So he does care after a all!  
"Perhaps we can even find clues to help the police gain insight as to the culprit's identity. Of course, I cannot be sure as to whether or not we would be allowed to investigate. It can't hurt to try tough." 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

From behind athe cover of a newspaper, Ravio walked the kids walk away. With them gone, there was no one else nearby. Despite the boss' statement that he couldn't possibly screw up, the Team Magic member was forced to hide his presence from the police, while all of his comrades were arrested.  
[I think they're gone. Good thing they didn't recognize you.]  
Indeed. The police was still searching for him after they caught them aboard the luxurious cruise ship. If someone recognized him, he'd be arrested faster than a Pikachu can run.  
[What kind of weird metaphor was that supposed to be?]  
It wasn't that weird, right? After all, his father used far weirder ones! Like, who claims to arrive 'like news of a fingersnap wiping out half of Marvel'?  
[Good question. Perhaps disturbed individuals?]  
That would be the most likely option. Only people with... *problems* would think it a good idea to put honey on a burger!  
[......What?]  
He liked it. No idea why....  
[Disregarding strange burgers, shouldn't we focus on figuring out why the police seemed to know exactly what our plan was?]  
Right, that was strange. The officers were simply waiting, almost as if they knew that they were going try and steal the S.S. Anne.  
[Perhaps someone betrayed the team?]  
That's a possibility. Or perhaps someone was far too careless and accidentally informed the police.  
[I don't think so. Didn't the boss say that even *you* can't screw this up? And if you could do it, anyone can!]  
That's true, the boss did indeed say that... Also, I hardly think that Fernando is more capable than me!  
[True. Anyone except Fernando.]  
Well, there's probably no use in sitting around at one spot for this long. Perhaps they should go get a coffee? People probably won't expect a wanted criminal to simply sit in a cafe.  
[Good idea. Can we get some cake as well?]  
Cake? Good idea!

Just as Ravio was about to get up, he heard two people with purple gloves talk about something while walking by. After looking more closely, he could identify one of them as Elizabeth, Fernando's sister!   
"And they almost caught all of them!"  
"Almost? Why did some get away?"  
A shrug "Luck? It doesn't matter with that many incompetent members gone, the boss won't have to worry about paying their salary anymore!"  
Were they talking about the arrest of all the Team Magic Members?! They were already a couple of meters away, so Ravio followed them stealthily.   
Elizabeth responded "Still, I don't know if it was a good idea to tip off the police! Now they investigating pretty much all our operations! That could be a very bad thing!"  
"Yeah, that's true. But we shouldn't openly disagree with the boss. We don't want to get fired!"  
"Good point! Say, do you know who got away?"  
"Sadly not! But I think it might be announced in the news special tonight!"

Having heated enough, Ravio let himself fall back, and started walking into a different direction.  
Could it be? Was the mission a trap? Did the boss set them up to be arrested?  
[That's what it sounds like! For once I don't know what we should do!]  
Neither did his trainer. How did he end up in this conspiracy? Why did everything seem to try and screw him over?  
[I don't]  
Everything except for Abra and perhaps his aunt Victoria. Still, that's almost everything!  
[You have an aunt? Why didn't you introduce me to her?]  
Because he stopped talking to her once he joined the team. At the time her rants about how he should try and become a gardener seemed silly, but in hindsight it probably would have been a better career choice!  
[If you hadn't joined Team Magic, we would have never met!]  
That's also true! Why can't there ever be an easy answer? Especially now that he doesn't even know if he can trust his colleagues!  
[I just hope that it'll be alright! If they're willing to get people arrested, just to get rid of them, who knows what else they'll do?]  
Ravio didn't even think about that! What if they'll hunt him down?! That'd be horrible!  
[Indeed. But now that I think about it, I might have an idea as to how we can get out of this dilemma...]

———————————————————————————————————————————————

"Seriously?! They don't even serve meat?!"  
Daniel was furious! First, they weren't allowed to investigate, then Nicholas decided to eat at a restaurant, but he failed to mention that it only served vegetarian dishes!   
How is he supposed to stay fit if he can't even get good food?!   
"Calm down Daniel. I don't think the people appreciate you shouting. It's kind of annoying. Your shouting, I mean, not the fact that the customers would rather hear themselves talking. That's perfectly understandable!"   
"No it's not! Who would eat at a place that doesn't even serve chicken?"   
"Everyone in this room except for you."   
"Graaargh!"   
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand that."   
"Yeah, because you're not intelligent! Smart people eat chicken!"   
"And who decided that? Besides, if smart people eat chicken, then why do you like it so much?"   
Sometimes Daniel was glad to have someone to talk to. This was most certainly not one of those times!  
"Well, smart chicks aside, we should probably order something. I'm really hungry! Perhaps the omelet with broccoli and rice? That sounds tasty."   
First of all: Who finds something like that tasty? Second: Why is he hungry? He just ate a sandwich two hours ago! That's not nearly long enough to work up an appetite!  
Since he didn't voice those questions, they were not answered, so Daniel instead decided to see if they serve something that actually tastes nice...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, I hope you enjoyed my writing.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Electric Shock Showdown


	14. Electric Shock Showdown

"No Daniel! You're always the first one to fight! This time, I'll challenge the gym leader while you wait outside."   
Yes, this was a thing. Nicholas had actually remembered that this time, it was his turn to be the first one to challenge the gym.  
"Can't I go first? After all, I my strongest Pokémon isn't weak to Electric type attacks!"  
"That is true. I should try and catch a Pokémon that has an advantage to balance out Squirtle's disadvantage. Since that could take a while, you might as well go ahead and try to earn your next badge. I do hope you succeed."  
Well, that's nice.  
"Then I hope that you'll catch something cool!"  
"Thank you very much." He paused "For some reason I feel like we're completely ooc. With which I mean out-of-character. Like, usually we bicker almost all the time instead of exchanging pleasantries!"  
That's kinda true...  
"Well, see ya."

After Nicholas left to go and find some Pokémon that might have an advantage, Daniel of course entered the gym, finding a large, muscly guy talking to a, as Nick would put it, 'interestingly clothed lady'.  
Since no one else was standing at the battleground that resembled a tennis court for some reason.   
"Errr...Mr. Surge?"  
"The guy turned around "I'm challenged by a kid? Heh, that's Lieutenant Matis Surge to you!"  
"Well, I've come to challenge you!"  
"You did? Well kiddo, if you insist, I can show you just how strong I am!"  
"Yeah! By the way, what's the women doing here?"  
"That's my... err... nevermind! Let's start the fight!" Why were the two blushing?  
"Sure! What's the rules?"  
"It's a one-on-one! We both sen out our Pokémon at the same time!"  
"Alright!" What Pokémon would be best suited to the situation? Beedrill is of course very strong, but perhaps Farfetch'd, Paras or Oddish could be better in this particular battle?   
No, Paras doesn't have enough training yet! And what if Farfetch'd refuses to follow his orders? It's pretty much a coin toss between his first two Pokémon.

"Oddish!"  
"Magnemite!"  
"Zzt, Magnemite, the Magnet Pokémon. They are completely artificial and were originally created by a group of scientists located in Iwatodai City in attempt to create something that can take on Yveltal. The project sadly didn't succeed, as the average Magnemite is far too weak to take on a legendary Pokémon. There is a rumor, however, that tells of the creation of a functional robot with human-like intelligence and body in February of 2000."  
Well, that's an interesting backstory. But does that mean that Magnemite aren't intelligent?  
"Well start with a Razor Leaf!"  
"Use Magnet Bomb!"  
Bits of metal and a flurry of leaves collided in midair, scattering shrapnel around the battlefield.  
"Set up a Light Screen!"  
A pale blue forcefield appeared in front of the Steel Pokémon.   
"Break through with Secret Power!"   
A purple ball of energy appeared and smashed into the barrier that the gym leader's Pokémon had created, sadly not breaking it.   
"Maag."   
"Magnemite, use Magnet Bomb again!"   
"Get out of the way!"   
Sadly it didn't quite work out, so Oddish thrown into a wall by the impact of the magnetic orb.  
"Ooodii..."  
It was knocked out! 

"See kiddo? That's what happens to people that aren't prepared for battle!"   
"I-I-I... I lost?"   
"Yeah, you did. You should train some more!"   
"I suppose..." 

Outside, he ran into Nicholas who seemed to be pacing around impatiently.   
"Daniel? Did you already win? That was quite fast!"   
"Weeeellll... Not quite?"  
"Oh, I see. Well, I caught a Cubone on Route 6. Since it has an advantage against Electric types, I'm planning on using it."  
"Cool. I'm gonna train in the meantime."  
"Sounds good. Oh, by the way, there's a shop that sells TMs south of here. You should check it out." Before departing, Nick gave his brother some money, probably to buy a TM.

At the store, Daniel was immediately assaulted by the most obnoxious music imaginable! It sounded like someone mixed the worst parts of Jazz and Pop and called it a good idea!  
"What kind of music is this?!"  
"That is our store's commercial jingle. Do you like it?"  
Huh? The cashier didn't realize that he hated this abomination? "It's.... okay."  
"I'm happy to hear that! Now, is there anything you want to buy?"  
"Yes please. Do you have a TM that my Beedrill can learn? Please not Silver Wind, we already own that."  
"I see... How about... this?" The store clerk pulled a brown disk out of it's case "That's Brick Break. It's a Fighting type move."  
That sounds good. Daniel was pretty sure that Nicholas once mentioned Fighting having an advantage against Steel.  
"How much is it?"  
"3000 Pokédollars. Do you want it?"   
"Yes, please."   
"Alright. Should I wrap it as a gift?"   
"No, no I want to use it right now."   
"That's fine with me." 

Taking the disk, Daniel inserted it into Dexio to access the data stored on it.   
"Zzt, TM inserted. Instructions downloaded. Please select a Pokémon that can learn Brick Break."   
Beedrill, of course.   
After tapping the corresponding icon, training instructions appeared on the screen.  
"Alright. It's time to train!"

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Two hours later, Daniel had finished teaching his Beedrill the new move, so he was on his way to the gym again.  
At the entrance, he found Nicholas talking to some engineer.   
"Hey Nick! Did ya win?"   
"Seriously? I told you to call me Nicholas! Also, I was just talking to Fumio-sensei. He helped Chansey learn Thunder Punch!" Ah! Well then. "But yes, I did win! It most definitely wasn't easy, but thanks to Cubone's speed I prevailed!"   
"That's cool! I taught Beedrill Brick Break, so now I should have an advantage against Magnemite!"   
Fumio decided to speak up "You only have an advantage if he uses Magnemite. He could also be using Raichu or Voltorb."   
Voltorb? What's that?   
Nicholas must have noticed the confused expression on Daniel's face, as he started explaining "Well, a Raichu is..."   
"Stop! I know what a Raichu is! Everyone does! After all, it is the evolved Form of Pikachu! I want to know what the other Pokémon is!"   
"Oh, you mean Voltorb. Well, they're ball-like Pokémon that tend to explode when provoked."   
Explode?!   
"Don't worry. I'm sure it will be fine. Just try and stay optimistic."   
"If you win, I can teach one of your Pokémon an Electric-type move. That's my job!"   
"Cool. But I better get going now. Don't wanna have to wait another day to win!" 

At the battlefield, he immediately caught sight of the lieutenant.   
"Ah, so you came back! Well, kiddo, let's see if you can do better this time 'round!"   
"Yes, let's see... see my strength!"   
"You've got spirit kid, I'll give you that! Go, Jolteon!"   
"Beedrill!"   
A Jolteon?! But Fumio didn't mention it!   
"You like my Jolty? I caught her last week and evolved her today! This is her debut fight!"   
"Zzt, Jolteon, the Lightning Pokémon. Their fur is always charged with static electricity, making it a bad idea to pet them without rubber gloves."   
Cool?   
"Well, Beedrill, Silver Wind!"   
"Thunder Shock!"   
The Jolteon launched a bolt of electricity at Beedrill, which managed to fly out of the way in time, before attacking with a sparkling gust of wind, which blew the opposing Pokémon back a bit.  
"Now we'll try Venoshock!"  
"Block it with Reflect!"  
A translucent, pink, wall appeared between the two Pokémon, blocking the Poison-type attack.  
It blocked it? Let's see... what did the TV say about Reflect? It significantly weakens special moves... That means physical ones would still work!  
"Let's try Brick Break!"  
Daniel's Pokémon rushed forward, smashing the barrier with a stabbing motion!  
"Huh? It broke this easily?"  
"Zzt, Brick Break can immediately destroy barriers."  
"Jolty, use Quick Attack and Agility!"  
The Lightning Pokémon moved far too fast for Daniel to see!  
"Chase it with Pursuit!"  
The bee's wings started to emit dark energy, before forming a blade out of it and throwing it at the Jolteon, which got out of the way in time!  
"That's too bad!"  
"Hit it with a Thunder Shock!"  
The bolt struck Beedrill, slamming it into the ground!  
"Get up and use Venoshock! This time there's nothing in the way!"  
Flying towards the enemy, Daniel's Pokémon prepared to stab it with it's needle-like arms.  
"Agility and then Thunder Fang!"  
The opposing cat/fox/dog/whatever jumped out of the way of Beedrill's first stab and behind it, from where it bit the bee with sparking fangs.  
Luckily, it was then hit by the second stab of the Twineedle attack.  
"Alright, let's try Silver Wind!"  
Turning around, the Bug Pokémon blew a gust of glittering wind at it's enemy, pushing it back.  
"Alright! Now, don't let it get close again!"  
"Jolty, close the distance with a Quick Attack!"  
"Stop it with Pursuit!"  
Before the lightning... dog(?) let's go with dog... could come close, it was hit by a wave of dark energy, pushing it back some more!  
"Good work! Now, how about a Venoshock!"  
"Kiddo, you forgot Jolty can use Reflect! If you wanna break the barrier, you need to come closer!"  
Oh no... he's right! And if Beedrill gets close, Jolteon can and will hit it! Pursuit would pass through the barrier, but the target would need to move, which it doesn't!  
Unless... there IS a way to hit it! Perhaps Beedrill is strong enough to learn... but what if it isn't? No! He has to try!  
"Beedrill, Pin Missile!"  
Daniel's bee shot three needles at the Jolteon. As they were physical, they passed through the reflective barrier! So it is strong enough!  
"Eh? I didn't think your lil' friend could do that! Well, come on Jolty, let's retaliate with the same move!"  
What? But... but...but it's a Bug-Type move! That doesn't belong on a dog! Dogs are not bugs!  
The dog didn't seem to care about that though and shot hard, needle-like hairs at it's target.   
"Beeed!"  
"Are you okay?"  
"Driii dri!" It nodded.  
"Alright, another Pin Missile!"  
"Thunder Shock!"  
The needles were hit by a bolt of lightning before they even had a chance to pass through the barrier.  
"See? I can just block 'em like this! If you want to have a chance you need to come closer!"  
That's true... sometimes taking a risk is necessary... oh dear, that sounds like one of Nick's life lessons!  
"He's right! Use Brick Break!"  
Daniel's partner finally smashed the barrier separating him from the Jolteon!  
"Now use Silver Wind!"  
"Jolty, get out of the way with Agility!"  
The wind hit the thunderdog, slamming it into a wall.  
"Jooool..."  
It collapsed!

"Well, kiddo, seems like you won. Didn't think you had it in you after seeing how you had no chance in the first battle! But you did! So now you've earned a Thunder Badge!" Daniel couldn't believe it! He actually won the badge! This seemed far too good to be real, but it actually was! Of course he immediately pinned it. to his shirt, where it rested next to the Cascade Badge.

Outside of the gym, he found Nicholas waiting for him "Hi, Daniel. Did you win? Why am I asking you that? Of course you did! I can see the badge! I'm just rambling because I am so excited!"  
Excited? "Why would you be?"  
"I just met Blue, you know, the league chairman! He was looking for a friend of his, called Green. Apparently she went missing a couple of months ago!" Blue? Wasn't that guy supposed to be a jerk? Nick is a fan of him for some reason. He says that he 'admires his tactical brilliance'. That doesn't excuse bad behavior!  
"Are you listening Daniel? You're just kind of... frowning. That's it. You're not really reacting. I was talking about how I didn't ask him for an autograph as I didn't want to bother him. Oooohhhh... are you jealous that I don't pay attention to the fact that you won?"  
What? Where'd he get that idea?! "No, I just don't like him! Also, where's the other guy? Didn't he promise to teach my Pokémon a new move?"  
"Do you mean Fumio-sensei? He just went to go get a bottle of water. Why don't you decide which Pokémon to train while we wait for him?"  
Right... Beedrill is already very strong, perhaps he should choose another Pokémon...  
"Can Paras learn an Electric-Type move?"  
"No... Now that I think about it, Beedrill is your only team member that can!"  
Wait what? Why?  
"Well, since you don't need to decide anything, I could use this opportunity to tell you about how I plan to train Cubone. I'm thinking I should focus on..."  
Oh no! When Nick talks about strategy he never shuts up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, I hope you liked my writing. Also, tomorrow this story is three months old! It doesn't feel that old, however...
> 
> Next Tuesday: Battle aboard the S.S. Anne


	15. Battle Aboard the St. Anne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If someone were to ask Ravio to compile a list of his favorite activities, the list probably wouldn't include things like trying to sneak aboard a cruise ship in the middle of the night. Of course the fact that he was stuck with what were probably the most incompetent members of Team Magic didn't really help.   
[I would like to remind you, that you haven't successfully completed a mission so far.]   
..... That's different! His missions didn't involve twelve people trying to somehow sneak their way through a ship. It would be kind of weird if they did.  
[How does that make them less competent?]  
Because they don't find it strange! But trying to steal a ship is only something pirates do! Team Magic isn't a crew of swashbuckling sailors!   
[No, but that is an amusing mental image.]  
It really is.

Suddenly, a bunch of spotlights turned on, casting their light on the wannabe pirates!  
"It's the police! Everyone, run!"  
That... was kind of obvious. Still, they all started running in different directions, trying to evade the police officers that were previously hidden a Mr. Mime.  
Hold up... can't Abra teleport the both of them to safety?  
[In theory I could. However it appears that there's a Thunder Wave spanning the entire ship. I can't teleport if I'm paralyzed!]  
Then how can you talk?  
[I don't talk. Communicating telepathically doesn't involve actually moving any muscles.]  
Just great. He can neither help, nor shut up!  
[I can help by distracting the police. After all, you're far from the only person I can reach with my mind.]  
Before Ravio could ask what that meant, he noticed an officer running past him.  
[I told her in the 'voice' of her a colleague of her's that she is needed over there.]  
Ah, that makes sense.  
[Yes. Now hurry and get out of here before they catch you!]  
Right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking back on it all, Ravio wasn't sure how he could have missed the fact that he was being set up to be arrested.   
Now, he was back at HQ, trying to explain himself to his higher-ups.   
"So you failed?"   
"It wasn't my fault! Someone probably tipped the police of!"   
"That's a serious accusation. Do you have proof of that?"   
"I-I overheard a conversation. But that's not the point! Rather, we should acknowledge that I'm skilled enough to escape the trap!"   
"That you are... That you are. Of course, you could've just gotten really lucky. So, I'd say another test would be in order!"  
Another test?!  
"B-but didn't I already proof how awesome I am?" Ravio desperately hoped that the boss wouldn't notice how nervous he was.  
"That was good, but not good enough! Your next assignment would be to accompany Agnetha, a newbie, on her first mission. If you succeed, you will get a raise. If not, you're fired! Understood?"  
F-F-fired?! "Yessir!"  
"Good. Now, go to our base in Lavender Town. You'll meet her there. Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!"  
"Of course sir, boss, sir!"  
"And don't call me that! Either 'boss' or 'sir', not both!"  
"Yes Mr. Boss!"  
"Mr. Boss?!"  
Oh dear, he seems angry...

———————————————————————————————————————————————

At about the same time, Daniel was bored out of his mind, as he was forced to watch his brother try and buy supplies at a Pokémart. Emphasis on *try*. Buying something was easier said then done, because some blonde lady decided to scream at the cashier about how she wants to speak to a manager.  
Nick wascurrently attempting to calm her down, so that he could actually pay for all the stuff he wanted to buy. Needless to say, it wasn't working...  
"THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY! I HAVE TO RIGHT TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE IN CHARGE!"   
"Could you please calm yourself? I also need to pay for my purchases, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."  
"THIS CAN WAIT! YOU'RE A TEENAGER, AREN'T YOU? I BET YOU JUST VANDALIZED A BUILDING WITH GRAFFITI!"  
Oh dear, now Nicholas looked angry.  
This expression didn't last, however, as a couple of seconds later, he seemed perfectly calm again "Listen lady I do not appreciate your stereotypes, so I kindly ask you to leave and never bother me or my brother again. Is that fine?" Despite his pleasant words, the tone of Nick's voice implied that he isn't as calm as his expression would suggest.  
"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU... YOU... YOU DELINQUENT! YOU THERE! EMPLOYEE GUY! CALL THE POLICE! HE THREATENED ME!"  
"Could you please be quiet? Your voice isn't a very pleasant one."  
Luckily, the cashier seemed to share that sentiment, as he didn't call the police on Daniel's brother.  
"THIS IS DISCRIMINATION! YOU'RE TREATING ME DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN!"  
"I assure you that I am usually a very patient person, but I'm afraid that even I can't take much more of your nonsense. If you don't stop causing a disturbance, I'll won't be able to keep calm. You wouldn't like that. For you see, the one thing I like even less than senseless violence, is people trying to invalidate any criticism by claiming to be discriminated against without that actually being the case. "  
Why does he sound so... menacing?  
"DID YOU HEAR THAT?! THAT WAS A CLEAR THREAT!"   
"Daniel, we're going. I can't take much more of this lady's insanity."   
"Alright."   
"Squirtle." 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Agnetha, in the meanwhile, was on the train to Lavender Town, playing some Candy Crush on her phone while her Smeargle was sleeping in it's Pokéball.   
"Out of turns again?!" Why does level 1563 have to be so difficult? "Let's try again."  
Playing random games was the only way she could possibly keep her mind off of the fact that she was about to embark on her first mission. She would be tasked to get some Ghost-Type Pokémon from some graveyard-tower-religious-place. How someone can be buried on a stone floor, she would never understand. Well, strange logistics aside, there was still the problem of Agnetha having no clue as to who she would be ordered to work with.  
It would probably be some nice, experienced and quite possibly handsome agent. Perhaps he would even be interested in her... they could go eat something... maybe watch a movie...  
"Next Stop: Umberville." Ah, they'd reach Lavender Town afterwards. Sounds like it's time to put the phone away and get ready.  
Let's see... Purse? Check. Bag? Check. Pokéball? Check. Alright, everything is where it should be. Soon she can score a hot guy while also earning money by working for Team Magic. Everything is going perfectly! ...Well, except for the fact that she has no clue as to how one goes about catching ghosts. Like, how would that work? They aren't even solid!  
Well, her date... err... companion could probably teach her the ways of throwing a ball at a spirit.  
Speaking of balls... perhaps she could even... no, that would be inappropriate!

———————————————————————————————————————————————

For some reason, Daniel had the feeling that someone just made a joke he didn't understand. He and his brother were currently shopping at some big supermarket called Junes.  
"You know Daniel, it is really to bad that we can't shop at the Pokémart. They have a bigger selection of berries I could use to cook. Also, we have to endure annoying background music in this store."  
He just keeps on complaining, doesn't he?  
"But then again, they have a much better selection of Pokéballs here. While one may expect to see only flaws, reality often differs from expectations." Aaaand his eyes were back to twinkling. They haven't done that for quite some time.  
"Are you okay? You haven't talked once since the start of this scene!"  
Scene? Nevermind, it's probably just some of Nick's nonsense!  
"You haven't answered me. I take it you responded through thoughts?  
"... Sure"  
"I see. Since you don't appear to be in a mood to talk right now, how about you listen while am used as a plot device to deliver exposition?"   
"Wait, what? I don't want you to be used as anything! Wouldn't that mean that you're being tricked?"   
"That is too bad. I could have foreshadowed the movie's plot. Then again, we still have about fifty episodes left until then. I'm sure I can drop some subtle hints in a different episode."  
"You're behaving even weirder than usual. Are you sure you're not possessed by a ghost again?"  
"Positively. Then again, a ghost would try and make you believe that nothing is out of the ordinary... Perhaps you shouldn't splash me with water. I know a TV show in which ghosts can be defeated that way."  
"Why are you talking like this? I've watched the show too. It's..."  
Before he could name it, Nicholas clapped a hand over Daniel's mouth "Quite! I don't want to get into legal trouble, so no referencing any copyrighted thing by name. Okay?"  
"...What?"  
"You'll understand it in a couple of episodes. Hopefully. Perhaps the writer will forget that I'm the one who's supposed to break the fourth wall."  
That didn't even make sense in the slightest! Why would he break a wall?  
Luckily, Nick didn't continue this weird conversation as he was currently busy figuring what kind of Pokéballs to buy.

"Ultra Balls would be nice, but they're also quite expensive... Moon Balls are way too specific... Net Balls would be an option... Timer Balls too... I think I'll be taking some Great Balls they're cheap enough but still better than they're non-great versions. Despite that, I probably should get at least two Net Balls. Also, this is foreshadowing, so you better remember it, alright?"  
And now he's talking strangely again.   
"Can't we just pay for that stuff and get out? I really don't want you breaking your hand, trying to punch a wall."   
"Why would I... ooooh, breaking the fourth wall, I understand. However I'm afraid that you don't understand something. Namely the fact that I am talking about a metaphorical wall."   
"A metaphorical wall? You know what? I don't even care. You can break whatever you want and I'll be the responsible one for once."   
"Responsible? I highly doubt that you could grasp the concept of responsibility correctly. After all, you just implied that, if I were to break anything, you would be at fault."   
"Where'd you get that idea?!"   
"You just stated that, for once, you'd be responsible for me breaking something. I know, of course, what you meant, but it could also be interpreted differently." Why does he always have to use big words?   
"Since you don't want me to be the comedic relief as that would involve me breaking the fourth wall, I don't really have any sort of significance in this episode. That probably means that this will be my last line for today."   
What is he talking about now? Is this some kind of cryptic riddle? Like 'What's so cool it's hot, so hot it's cool?' that's pretty much unsolvable. Perhaps you're not meant to figure it out? The only clue Daniel has is that it's got something to do with an advertisement. Sadly, when Nick decided to tell him about the riddle a couple of weeks ago, he didn't mention what was advertised in the commercial. Maybe the answer is a cold flame? Does that exist? If not, could it be some Pokémon?...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like usual, I hope that at least some of you liked this episode.
> 
> Since the cruise ship is sometimes called S.S. Anne and sometimes St. Anne, I figured that the two names can be used interchangeably. 
> 
> Next Tuesday: Pokémon Shipwreck


	16. Pokémon Shipwreck

To say that Agnetha had a good day would be an understatement. It was the best day since she came to Kanto! First, she met this handsome guy called Ravioli who turned out to be her supervisor for this mission, and then the mission itself was actually really easy! Since Smeargle knows a Dark-type attack, the ghosts stood no choice against her might!   
Well, that's a bit of an oversimplification. The mission is to catch the ghosts. That isn't very easy, as they first need to figure out how to use a Silph Scope.  
"I believe you need to press this button."  
[No. Pressing a red button is always a bad idea.] Right. And then there's the Abra. Agnetha has no idea why it's the only member of it's species she met that communicates in a human language, but then again, she never asked because she doesn't care. She only cares that it tends to occupy Ravioli's attention. But if she's the one that helps Ravioli find out out how to use their tool, he's sure to like her!   
"Why don't you flick the yellow switch?"  
"No, I'm pretty sure that activates the alarm. From what I've heard it's a very obnoxious one." Oh. Well, that's bad. Now he probably thinks she's stupid!  
[We could try and smack it against a wall. That always works in cartoons. Perhaps it also works in real life?]

———————————————————————————————————————————————

At about the same time, Daniel and Nicholas were eating sandwiches in the shade of a beautiful apple tree.  
"Squi! Squirtle squi."  
"I don't know if you can eat salad. Can turtles eat salad? I don't think it's good for them." Of course that's the kind of stuff Nick thinks about. Of course.  
"Squir."  
"Dont look so disappointed. I've already made food for you. I'm sure you like it. I sure do." How is he able to enjoy the food he cooks for Pokémon? It's gross! That's like if someone would find cat food tasty!  
"Well, would you look at that." Huh? Look at what? He's reading something on Dexio, so it's probably a post on Reddit or something. "It appears that the St. Anne, which is also called S.S. Anne, has sunk." Oh, so he's probably reading the news. "Five people are still missing, everyone else escaped safely. That's an unusually low number of missing people, especially as there aren't even any confirmed deaths yet."  
"What? Five people are missing! That's horrible!"  
"Yes, but it's not nearly as bad as it could have been." True, but it isn't confirmed that they survived!  
"Squirtle? Squirtle squirtle tle."  
"I know. But just because some people we most likely never even met are missing, doesn't mean that our entire day should be spent mourning them. There's still other things we need to do." as he continued reading, his expression went from indifference, to shock and finally settled on an unreadable one. "Daniel... One of the missing people is Ash Ketchum... we know him." What?!?!?! "Also, could you please express your shock in a way that doesn't make it look like a twelve year old suethor wrote this story, I'd appreciate it."

"Squir?"  
"Right, you never met any of our acquaintances."  
Ash is lost at sea? How? No... it can't be... Why him? Couldn't it have been someone, anyone else?  
"Faaaarfe!" Wha? Farfetch'd just left it's Pokéball!  
"Odd!"  
"Beeee!"   
"Para pa!"  
All of his Pokémon left their 'balls?

"Amazing. It appears they sensed your grief and thus want to comfort you. But how were they able to do so? None of them has any psychic abilities! I need to investigate this!" Seriously? Did he seriously switch from sadness to curiosity this fast? Doesn't he have a heart?  
"Sq. Squirtle."  
"Huh? Oh right, there is still the matter of our acquaintance being missing. Well, we don't know for sure that he hasn't survived, so we can focus on something else now." How can he be so cold? Someone he personally knows has just gone missing! Show a little empathy!  
"Oddi dish!"  
"Papaparas!"  
"Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate your support." The fact that it didn't exactly take his mind of Ash's death/disappearance was left unsaid.  
"Daniel? May I ask you something?"  
Daniel nodded, not trusting his voice. He felt as if he would start sobbing uncontrollably soon.  
"How do you do it?"  
"What?"  
"How are you always so energetic? You barely ever cry."  
"What? You never cry! So why are you asking me?"  
"I... please just forget it." Something isn't right!  
"Okay. But if I can help you please tell me. You're my big brother, you should be able to be open up to me."  
"Daniel... thank you."

"Now come on, we should get going now."  
"If you're not ready we shouldn't."  
"I am ready. I just need some time. That's it." He didn't sound very sure of that.   
"Okay... But please tell me if anything is wrong!"  
"I will... I promise."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

That evening, the three of them were setting up their camping utensils in a dark forest, when Nick excused himself to go and look for fruits to add to their dinner.  
Strangely, he took neither Squirtle nor Daniel with him...  
"Hey, do you know why he wanted to go alone?"  
Squirtle shook his head.  
"Too bad. You know, I'm kinda worried about him. Usually he's the protective one who worries about everything. But something is wrong. Do you think it's connected to Ash's disappearance? Perhaps he's more worried than we think... Actually he can't be more worried than we think because we think he's even more worried."  
"Squirtle..."  
Since even the little turtle seemed to be worried, Daniel made up his mind "Can you stay here and take care of our bags? I'll be go see if I can find Nick."  
His brother's favorite companion nodded.

Daniel had to walk a little bit, before reaching his sibling, who was currently sitting under a tree, crying. Wait... Crying?! He's like never sad!  
"Eh? Daniel? What are you doing here?"  
"I'm worried. You don't seem like your usual self. You're not okay, are you?"  
"I-I'm fine! You need not be worried!"  
"You aren't. You wouldn't be crying if you were. Please, just tell me what's the problem."  
Nicholas took a deep breath before answering "I just... I don't know what to do. Your... no, our friend went missing. But... I don't know how to react. I don't... I don't feel sad! Just... empty."  
Empty?  
"But... but... I..."  
"Do you have something else to say? Just let it all out."  
"When... when you were three years old, we went on a vacation to Indonesia, you remember that, right?"  
"Of course I do! Well, I remember that we were there, not what we did."

"Well, one day...when we went to the swimming pool... you jumped in without any of us noticing. Our parents were still getting ready... I was responsible for you... yet you almost drowned... you were saved by another poolgoer..."  
"What?" What's he talking about?  
"I... I almost lost you! And now... one of our friends went missing when the ship he was on sank... What if he drowned?"  
He started sobbing uncontrollably.  
"What? It's not your fault! You were seven! You can't be responsible at that age!"  
"Yes, I can! I've always been the responsible one!"  
"Just snap out of it! That's in the past! I'm still alive!"  
"You're right, I need to brave!"  
"No. You don't need to be brave. Just stop blaming yourself for something that didn't even happen! You're not guilty of anything!"  
"But I am! Still, I have to be brave for you!"  
"Can't you just stop that? You're not some kinda martyr that sacrifices his own happiness for others! It's okay to feel bad, but you shouldn't blame yourself for stuff that never happened!"  
"But it almost did! I should have been more careful! Daniel... I-I could have lost you..."  
"Chan!"  
Huh? Chansey?  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Didn't you tell me that Pokémon can sense emotions?"  
"Zzt, Chansey strive to comfort those in need."  
"Chan cha cha chansey."  
It started rubbing Nick's back.  
"No... I don't need comforting! I have to be strong and responsible!"  
"Just stop your negative selflessness!"  
"Negative selflessness?"  
"It's the best term that came to mind."  
"Please stop... I just need some time!"  
"No. You need people that stand with you. Please Nicholas, just accept our help. We'll go back and talk to Squirtle he's your friend, after all."  
"NO! Squirtle can't see me like this! Please, he needs me to be strong!"

"Is that it? Do you think that everyone is weak?"  
"No, but he does not need me dragging him down! Especially since I am far weaker than everyone I know."  
"What? You're strong! Stronger than everyone I know! But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't show some weakness every now and then."  
"No... you think I am strong... but I am not. Oh dear, that sounds horrible! I made it sound like you are incompetent!"  
"Thanks for apologizing, I guess? But I'm not mistaken! You're stronger than you think!"  
"I am not! I don't even feel sad! I just feel, I don't know how to describe it, hollow. You actually are sad that your friend went missing!"  
"Seeeey! Chans chansey?"  
"People express their feelings in different ways! You're not bad for not feeling the same way I do!"  
"But I am! I am unable to feel saddened after hearing what happened! I'm not even capable of griefing the right way!"  
"But there is no right way to grieve! The only wrong way would be to fake another's method! Which, by the way, is what you're doing right now! If anything, doing that would be weak! You're strong because you're yourself! Your stupid puns, strange life tips, interest in the most boring stuff imaginable and your fancy way of talking are what makes you an individual!"  
Daniel's brother looked at him with a newfound admiration "Since when are you so wise?"  
"Since always! You just never noticed it!"  
That caused all three of them to chuckle.

"Daniel, I... I think I'm ready to go back now... thank you."  
He still seemed shaken up, but wasn't sobbing anymore.  
"It's no problem! Afte all, you always give me advice, I might as well repay you."  
"Oh? Now you appreciate my advice? Weren't you always annoyed by it? Also, if you give someone a life life lesson, you should make your eyes twinkle. It enhances the effect."  
It seemed impossible but from the looks of it, Nick is back to normal! 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Ravio was quite confused, to say the least. The girl he was assigned to work with, Agnetha, was currently trying to get him to go drink a coffee with him.  
"Come on! Our mission is over! We might as well celebrate!"  
[I believe she is trying to hit on you.]   
"Wh-wh-what? Nonono! I'm just in the mood for some coffee, that's all!"  
[Sure. I suppose she has the internet version of thirst.]  
The what now? Agnetha appeared to know what Abra meant, as her face took on the color of a ripe cherry.  
[See? She totally is trying to ask you out. You're just quite dense."  
Dense? That's not true at all!  
[Keep telling yourself that...]  
"Err, you do know that I can't read Ravioli's thoughts, right?"  
"MY NAME IS RAVIO!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once again hope that you enjoyed this episode.  
> Also, it's still a bit early today, but that's because I'll have to go to the hospital at one p.m. and will spend the night there.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Island of the Baby Pokémon


	17. Island of the Baby Pokémon

Ahh, the ocean... a beautiful, if sometimes dangerous place.  
Daniel and his brother were currently on a ferry that was supposed to bring them to a nearby island.  
Apparently rare Pokémon can be found there. And rare Pokémon are usually strong!  
"Squiii! Rtle tle!"  
"Right, this is the first time you didn't have to swim to traverse the waves."  
Just great. Nick is already back to his pretentious way of talking! Well, at least he isn't stuck in blaming-himself-mode anymore!  
"I think we should arrive in about seven minutes. That is, if I didn't make a mistake when calculating the duration of our little trip."  
"Seven minutes? That sounds about right..."  
"Indeed it does. By the way, have you heard the news?"  
"No?" Why would that be important? Did someone create a cure to an incurable disease?  
"You see, it appears that the principal of Shujin Academy died."  
"Why did you want me to know that? I don't even know that school!"  
"Well, there were rumors of him being involved with Team Magic. Since we already encountered members of the team a couple of times, it seemed important."  
"Sure. Next you'll tell me that a cat running away is gonna be important 'cause there's a rumor that it enters a space station."  
"I don't think sarcasm suits you. That's more my style..."  
"Squirtle!"  
"Hm? Oh, we've almost arrived. I'd say we should get ready."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

At the island, the trio met a tour guide, wanting to show them the sights, but Nicholas pulled Daniel away.   
"What? Why can't I talk to him?"   
"He most likely wants us to pay for a tour. We don't need one though, after all, we simply wish to catch some Pokémon."   
Sounds... sensible?   
"Sooooo... how are we gonna find them? I don't think they're just hanging out at the harbour."   
"I don't think so either. We should enter the jungle. There would most likely be a couple of potential companions to be found."   
"Why do you keep calling them companions? I kind of understand it with Squirtle, but the others just stay in their 'balls till they're needed."   
"Well, comrades makes it sound like I'm the leader of a communist party, and allies doesn't imply a personal relationship."   
"What? What do communists have to do with comrades?"   
"Well, that's kind of difficult to explain. I believe you will come to understand it eventually."   
Wow. That's not helpful at all.   
But since Nicholas refused to explain the connection between a political(?) angle and comrades, the two if them ventured into the jungle. 

"Chacha? Charmaaander!"   
"What was that?"   
"Calm yourself. It appears that a Charmander decided to scare you. How perplexing. I didn't anticipate us to encounter Pokémon that aren't classified as babies. Of course I do not mean 'Baby' as in newborn. An island inhabited only by newborns wouldn't be possible, as they are most likely unable to survive by themselves. This Charmander, though, definitely does qualify as a newborn."  
"It does?" Also, why are some Pokémon classified as babies? Can there be adult 'Baby' Pokémon?   
"Indeed it does. I would guess it to be about four to five months of age. Also, it coloring is very peculiar."   
"It's coloring?" It was... golden. Aren't there, like, a bunch of 'manders with golden scales? Is that really such a special thing?   
"Yes. This individual appears to be... shiny! Dun dun duuuunnnnn!"   
"What?! Did you just create a dramatic sound effect?"   
"Errr... perhaps?"   
"Also, it doesn't shine. I don't think it's shiny."   
"Oh, no, no. Shiny Pokémon don't shine. Well, except for those who already shine in their regular form."   
"Then why are they called shiny Pokémon?"   
"I do not actually know. The only difference between them and regular Pokémon is their color."   
"Squir squirtle, squir?"   
"Mamander! Cha char." 

"They two of them seem to get along rather well."  
Yeah, that's kinda true.  
"Hey, Nick-"  
"Nicholas. That's my name. Not Nick."  
"Well, Nick-olas could Squirtle ask Mr. Shiny if he wants to accompany us?"  
Nick groaned. "Seriously? Nick-olas?"  
"It sounds cool. Also, can you please ask the mislabeled guy if he'd like to join us?"  
"Alright. Squirtle, you heard him."  
"Squirtle tle. Squuuiiir?"  
"Ch char? Mander man."  
It shook it's head.  
"Does that mean no? Please accept our proposal. I would love to use this opportunity to study a subject like you!"  
"Err... Nick? You're sounding like a mad scientist again."  
"I do? Well, thank you for pointing that out. I appreciate your assistance."

Suddey, a popping noise could be heard, and Ravioli, Abra and some red-haired girl appeared. Like, not even orange! Her hair is crimson! That can't be natural, right? Is she a shiny to?  
"What?! Why did you teleport us into some jungle?"  
"We can't go drink a coffee in here!"  
[Well, some indonesian folks incorporate monkey droppings in their coffee. I'm sure you could find some primates around here. As for why we're here? You wanted me to teleport us away from that crazy guy.]  
Crazy guy?  
"Wait... the kids?!"  
"What kids? Are these your kids? Do you have a wife?!"  
"What? No! They're just some... rivals? Enemies? Acquaintances?"  
"Ehmm... I'm of course very sorry for interrupting you two, but I don't think we met all of you."

"Oh, right, that's Agnetha."  
"Agnetha? That name sounds German. I don't think you're supposed to pronounce the H."  
"I'm from Galar." Wow. That deadpan voice could rival Nicholas'!  
"Well then, seems like I am mistaken."  
[Err... Aren't we supposed to be your enemies?]  
"Right! Nidorino, come help us fight them!"  
"Smeargle, don't let him outdo us!"  
"Are we fighting now? Squirtle, I need your assistance."  
"Let's go Farfetch'd!"

Everyone's Pokémon appeared, well, except for Squirtle, who wasn't in his 'ball to begin with.  
"Man? Cha char?"   
"Huh? A golden Charmander?"   
[It's a shiny!]   
"Shiny? But it doesn't shine!" Exactly!   
"We've already had this discussion. Can we please *not* start it again."   
"Well, shinies are valuable, right? I'm sure the boss would love it if we caught one for him!"   
What? But that lil' Charmander should belong to Daniel! That'd be so much fairer!   
"How about we just fight over it? This time, I'm sure to win!" Keep telling yourself that Ravioli. It is a good idea tough... 

"Might I remind you, that you had to retreat whenever we met?"   
"T-that's irrelevant! Come on Nidorino, just attack the duck!"   
"Smeargle, Thunder Punch the Squirtle!"   
"Squirtle, get out of the way!"   
"Farfetch'd, use Brave Bird against the... what is that?"   
"Zzt, Smeargle, the Painter Pokémon. Depending on where they grew up, Smeargle can have very distinct artstyles."   
Soooo... she brought an artist to a fight? That doesn't seem like a very good idea, does it?

———————————————————————————————————————————————

At the same time, somewhere else, the great Fernando was fleeing from the police. He just had the magnificent idea of stealing an old lady's Pokémon. Sadly, that old lady was an undercover cop. Now, he was being chased all around the countryside by her and her colleagues.  
His sister wasn't particularly helpful, since she apparently got sick from eating too much curry. She just didn't have a stomach as magnificent as his!  
Of course, if he had gotten sick as well, he probably wouldn't need to escape the police and hide in some kid's tree house.   
"Mister... do you want to play with Hiroaka?"   
"Sssssssure?" Better to keep him happy, else he starts to cry. The cops probably wouldn't ignore that.   
"Yay! How about...mmm...tag?"  
"We can't play that in here."   
"You're right! Hiroaka will have to think of a better game... how about chess?"   
"Chess? Do you even know the rules?"   
"You could teach Hiroaka!"   
"Well, I suppose you could learn a thing or two from watching a magnificent tactician such as me play!"   
"Thank you so much mister! That is very kind!"   
Would now be a good moment to mention that he didn't even know the rules himself? 

———————————————————————————————————————————————

"Tackle the painting dog!"  
Daniel and Farfetch'd were currently trying to beat the galarian woman in a Pokémon battle, while Ravioli and Nicholas were also battling each other.  
"Smeargle, go help swee- Ravio!"  
"Stop him/her! ...Is your Smeargle a male or a female?"  
"Smeargle is a nice, well-behaved lady! Who will defeat you, using Double Kick!"  
"Get out of the way!"  
Suddenly, Nicholas spoke up "You know, this scene is kind of disjointed. Probably because the author decided to switch to another pov, or POV, depending on how you want to spell it. At the change in viewpoints wasn't preceded by '(Character's) Pov'. If it was, a strange creature would have spawned."

Literally everyone looked at Nick.  
"What? That's how this works! Or at least it would be, if this is a badfic. Is this a badfic?"  
"Is it just me, or did your brother get even stranger?"   
"I agree with you, Mr. Pasta."  
"Mr. Pasta? Wait.... is this because of my name?! It's Ravio! Not Ravioli!"  
[Shouldn't you continue fighting?]  
"Right. Thanks Abra."

"Farfetch'd, Brave Bird!"  
"Out of the way! Then use Aurora Beam!"  
The doggie couldn't dodge in time and was hit by a flaming tackle. Immediately afterward, it painted some kind of laser blaster.  
"What's that?"  
The blaster then shot a rainbow-colored beam at Daniel's duck. Hmm... Daniel's duck...that sounds like a restaurant. Do ducks taste good? He would have to ask someone. Not Nick, he's a vegetarian. But maybe someone else...  
"Farfetch'd, it's time to use whatever your strongest move is!"  
"That doesn't sound like a very strategic move... but I might as well join in. Squirtle, you too shall use your most devastating attack!"  
The strange team, consisting of a duck and a turtle covered themselves with a blazing orb of water, before smashing into their enemies, sending them flying away.

"Kyaaaaaahhh!"  
A star appeared with a quiet *ding*.  
"Cha char. Charman!"  
The lizard immediately hugged Daniel's leg.  
"Oh? It appears that our little friend has taken a liking to you. Perhaps it was impressed by the very little number of unwise decisions you have made in this bout."  
"Than- Wait a second! Was that an insult?"  
"Whatever do you mean? I merely stated that you have made an astonishingly small number of, as you would call them, stupid decisions."  
"Yeah! That means that you think I usually do make stupid decisions!"  
"I did not say that. Of course if you believe it to be the case, you most likely know on a subconscious level that you often make foolish plans."  
"Foolish plans?! What's that supposed to mean?"  
Nicholas simply chuckled.  
"Hey! Answer me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.
> 
> Next Tuesday: Beauty and the Beach


End file.
